


V « ,. v _ . 









s^SMHfeifl?^ 



■ >J A'. 






j iiii it i ur 



CONGRE. 






£ ^^// -xt 



NITED STATES OF AMERICA. \ 









V, v;<fc'y-fe U 












V w 






W V w 









v ^^*¥<V*' 






Sw»„. 



£&**$£ 



Til E L( >Y ES 






JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA 



/ 



ifi w i: L L 



^ 



;: 



riii 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by 
WILLIAM B. JOHNSON, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 





\ ** 



i 



jy Spectfall] jjtdicntfd 

lib :A. 



I'll i: OR] Tl I -. 



A b a morons -ketch in charcoal, 

In :i plain u "mien frame, l""'> 
.\ :i pure L r «>lil 

Raphael. 



BOS WELL 



'* 



I OUT E NT-. 



BOOB I P4oi 

r B 9 

BOOB M 

-MIIHKID 

BOO K mi. 

d 1 1 )M a 

OB IV. 

I 



BOOK V. 

Tut: On Bl 



BOOB vi. 






THE LOVES 

JONATB W \\'l> \ [RGINIi 

BOOK I. 

V ELOM U 



in time, two i • 

his fair land, 

I I I Ht- in the -ami 

N l 

Bhioiog w*U ayfal breezes fani 

N til. i>ut Nature in a dream 

I land, o'er hill and dal< 

ii. 

E 'Is 

( > \ aid 

In in. ; by the . 

..1 Well i 

I short, tins English maiden I have □ 

i irginia ber name, 

J i 1 1 1 \ bei lite unkii 

in. 



12 TUB LOVES OF 

Who shrink by fire, while the real hero 
From early childhood is compressed to zero. 

XL 

" I will be queen ; but only queen of hearts, 
And all my subjects shall be lovers true ; 

Their love for me shall teach them all the arts 
Of war and peace that ever England knew. 

With that fresh vigor liberty imparts, 

We'll build an empire, wonderful and new ; 

Each man shall be a king on his plantation, 

And altogether one grand democratic nation." 

XII. 

Sir Walter sat and smoked his pipe in thought 
While thus the maid enthusiastic spoke ; 

And as he puffed the weed which he had brought 
From the New World, and eddying clouds of smoke 

In circles rose, then vanished into naught, 
"Behold!" said he, "tobacco doth invoke 

Such fairy visions as thy words display. 

But, lo ! the smoke doth vanish ; the picture fades 
away. 

XIII. 

"And yet, like thee, fair maiden, I have dreamed 

Of glory, love, and liberty on earth ; 
And to myself a hero I have seemed, 

While glorious visions in my heart had birth. 
An El Dorado on my vision beamed 

That drew me o'er th' Atlantic's sea-green girth : 
I sailed into a continent 'neath Southern skies, 
For ages hid by God, — .a second Paradise. 

XIV. 

" Beneath Italian skies I saw a land 

Such as I'd dreamed of, but ne'er hoped to see, 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 13 

Whose rivers run like lakes 'tween banks of golden 
sand, 

Whose lakes are larger than the Caspian Sea, 
Whose forests from primeval ages stand, — 

Oaks eloquent of many a century, 
And in whose branches birds of every hue, 
The only choristers America then knew. 

xv. 

" Such shoals of fish the glittering rivers filled ; 

Yast flocks of wild fowl clamored in the air ; 
Ten thousand cattle grazed the earth untilled, 

And herds of deer peeped from their coverts near, 
That never heard the hound, and rarely killed ; 

The untamed partridge and the timid hare 
Fled not from man; sweet sang in air the lark, 
And squirrels made the solemn woods all vocal with 
their bark. 

XVI. 

" There, 'midst the perfume of a thousand flowers, 
And cedar-birds that whispered in the sky, 

Prone on the virgin sod I'd lie for hours, 
Searching the blue vault with a lover's eye, 

Listening, enchanted, to the bird whose powers 
Of song excel the nightingale, while many a sigh 

Went back to youth, to friends, to love's first kiss, 

That would have made an Eden of such a land as this. 

XVII. 

"While thus I mused with tearful heart and eye, 
As prisoners look on Beauty through their bars, 

A vision crossed me in that cloudless sky, 
Like iris after rain, peace after weary wars : 

The glorious form of godlike Liberty 

Rose on my vision bright as southern stars; 

Swift as a dream he glided smiling by, 

And plunged into the forest, — no haunted deer so shy. 

2 



14 THE LOVES OF 



XVIII. 

" ' Alas,' said I, ' that this angelic boy, 
So friendly to the best pursuits of man, 

Should dwell in pathless solitudes, so coy 
To nations ever since the world began !' 

With Adam and with Eve he lived awhile in joy, 
Till, frightened by the thunders of Jehovah's ban, 

He fled from earth and man's distorted face; 

Though, fondly ling'ring, still he hovers o'er the race. 

XIX. 

" Oft, like the dove when weary of the air, 
Behold him in some peaceful spot descending, 

As first with Noah when the sky was fair 

And the first rainbow o'er the earth was bending. 

Eight hundred years he lived in joy there, 

Until the tower of Babel, impiously ascending, 

Fell with a crash, confusion, and dismay ; 

Then forever fled from Asia Liberty away. 

xx. 

"But for the race of Japheth, the first prince 
And gentleman of earth, he had a liking, 

Though shy euough of princes ever since. 
And, what to Bible readers is quite striking, 

His hatred for the race of Ham's intense. 

Then of the islands Japheth was the viking ; 

And so the frightened boy, pausing in his flight, 

Upon the Isles of Greece in course of time did light. 

XXI. 

" Then in those favored regions, through his care, 
The Arts and Sciences of life had birth, 

Which in the Sea of Time, like jewels rare, 
Have shot forth lustre that adorns the earth. 

Then first the Beautiful did reappear 

In marble, canvas, parchment, whose worth 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 15 

All times acknowledge as the true ideal 

That Liberty with man and woman might make real. 

XXII. 

"While yet the angel's work was scarce begun, 
The sky of Greece was overcast with war; 

But then the Greeks, on far-famed Marathon, 
Inspired by Liberty, could know no fear, 

And, happily for man, a victory won 
Whose memory all ages since hold dear. 

Their freedom gave to Greece that classic age, 

Brilliant with poet, painter, sculptor, orator, aud sage. 

XXIII. 

" Alas, alas ! this could not last forever : 
The lust of empire, and the greed of gain, 

The rivalry of states, then keen as ever, 
On land or sea supremacy to attain, 

And, more than all, that powerful lever, 

The demagogue's long tongue, that, with a vain 

And idle people, overturns a state 

To please a foolish fauc} r or to gratify a hate, — 

XXIV. 

"By these and other causes, Greece, once shaken, 
Soon felt smooth Philip's paw, — the Northern cat; 

And, ere Demosthenes-'his country could awaken, 
Her doors were open and her walls laid flat, 

And Alexander strode through halls forsaken 
By Liberty alone. But what of that ? 

The body still was there, although the soul had fled, 

Forms of beauty, glory, grandeur, which are even yet 
not dead. 

XXV. 

" Not dead, indeed, but scattered and defaced, 
The ignorant victor's prize, wealth's idle toy ; 



IQ THE LOVES OF 

Those jewels which fond Liberty had placed 
On the fair neck of Greece with pride and joy, 

Have often since the tyrant's palace graced, 
To tench or to amuse some royal boy ; 

Adorned the porticoes of wealthy fools, 

Or punished idle boys in our classic schools. 

XXVI. 

" Men die, and even nations pass away, 

But their great works survive. If Nature's truth 

Is in them, they Ml not perish nor decay, 
But live, like Nature, in perpetual youth. 

The oak is still the oak of Homer's day, 

And Venus still the goddess that came forth 

All glowing from the sea ; and the Greek column 

Adorns all buildings still, grand, gay, or solemn. 

XXVII. 

" From Greece the frightened boy fled to Rome, 
Whose deeds already filled the world with fame. 

There, 'neath Italian skies, he found a home, 
And kindled in Italian hearts a flame 

Whose glow will gladden ages yet to come, 
And gave to glory yet another name; 

For virtue greater than was virtue Roman, 

In eighteen hundred years has yet been known to no 
man. - 

XXVIII. 

" Yet there his stay was short ; for it began 
When tyrant Tarquin was expelled the city. 

The first Brutus was their first free man : 

Last, Brutus who killed Csesar, — a great pity ! 

And strange it is, both names with B began, 

So Bruce who Comyn stabbed, — a doleful ditty ! 

But Liberty left Borne to who might seize her, 

The day the Rubicon was crossed by Julius Caesar. 



JONATHAN AXD VIRGINIA. if 

XXIX. 

" Still Rome grew on in glory and in power, 
Till all the world was covered by her shade, 

So vital was the sap that in an early hour 
Freedom infused into the tender blade. 

Thus bloomed the tree in time into full flower 

In the Augustan age. Thence all its flowers fade. 

Yet in its shade grew safely a young vine, 

Till from its sheltering branches walked Jesus the 
Divine. 

XXX. 

"Bright Star of Bethlehem ! that, ere the night 

Of total darkness settled on the earrh, 
Didst guide the Eastern magi by thy light 

To the poor cradle of that wondrous birth, 
And, fresh from heaven, taught the wise men right, 

That earthly pride and glory ? s nothing worth ; 
That vain is Science, Art, and even Liberty, 
And he 's the only freeman whom the Truth makes 
free. 

XXXI. 

11 Oh. yes ! another star was added then 

To the bright witnesses that hang above us, 

Xot only for the magi, but for common men, 

That we might know there's One above doth love us. 

This truth, that seemed too high for our ken, 

Or hid in temples whence the priest did shove us, 

Shone forth in Jesus and his human love. 

From heaven descending like the Holy Dove. 

XXXII. 

"Yes, this was Love! half human, half divine, 
Before which Yenus veiled herself from sight, 

Ne'er sung before by the immortal Nine, 
Nor reached by Plato in his highest flight. 

The world its meaning could not yet divine : 
That star, so pure, so beautiful, so bright, 
2* 



18 THE LOVES OF 

Whispering to shepherds on the darkened plain, 
Peace, peace on earth, and good will towards man ! 

XXXIII. 

" The Law had wrestled with the Jews in vain ; 

From Israel the sceptre had departed, 
Liberty and Genius had had their reign, 

Greece, Egypt, Rome, had all once fairly started ; 
Rome only now triumphant did remain, 

And she, by Liberty and God deserted, 
Corrupt, magnificent tyrant of every nation, 
Was tottering to a fall of universal desolation. 

XXXIV. 

11 Here, then, beamed forth the only hope for man, 
Ere the dark ages settled down in night, — 

A light the sailor, ere the storm began, 

Alight see, and haply thereby guide his flight. 

Thus, ere its course the Roman Empire ran, 
In the calm evening of its fading light, 

The Church was built on rock, whose cross and star 

Have guided pilgrim nations through all the storms of 
war. 

XXXV. 

" Then came the deluge from the barbarous North ; 

The Huns with Attila, 'the scourge of God,' 
Rapacious Goths, by Alaric led forth, 

Rushed o'er the sunny South, and rudely trod 
To dust the classic beauty of the earth. 

War wildly walked the world, in iron shod, 
A thousand years, — a long and dismal night, — 
The glare of whose incendiary fires its only light. 

XXXVI. 

" And yet not wholly dark ; for there were caves 
And cells, and here and there a convent, 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 19 

Whence holy light — the light that guides and saves — 
Its cheering beams to weary wanderers sent; 

Where holy men had rescued from the waves, 
And hid away from baron, knight, and gent, 

The wTecks of Roman, Greek, Egyptian lore, 

And of Christ's religion all its precious ore. 

XXXVII. 

"In quiet cells, within the sound of battle, 

These holy fathers read, and thought, and prayed, 

Communing now with Plato and Aristotle, 

Now gathering to the fold the sheep that strayed, 

Now rescuing from oblivion some lost Apostle, 
Now making peace 'tween hostile ranks arrayed, 

Or, with that courage which religion brings, 

Laying the Church's hand e'en on the lion mane of 
kings. 

XXXVIII. 

" Thus in the Church, as in a second ark, 

Rode through the deluge of that stormy time 

The Learning, Science, and the Arts, that mark 
Epochs of liberty in each sunnier clime, 

That for sweet Jesus' sake God did embark, 
Till, sending forth his doves from time to time, 

He found earth ready for a fresh plantation, 

And threw the church door open, as at the Reformation. 

XXXIX. 

" Then Liberty, who had fled to Alpine height, 
Inspiring thence the Switzers' song of home, — 

For Switzerland was long his sole delight, — 

Heard Luther's signal ring through heaven's dome. 

With hope revived, and headlong, rapid flight, 
He sought the maiden just released from Rome. 

Thence, hand in hand, Liberty and Religion 

Have wandered to and fro on wing through every 
region. 



20 THE LOVES OF 

XL. 

"Oh, blest, mysterious pair! from heaven descended, 
Symbolic of the union of the two best races ; 

Religious Shem with princely Japheth blended, 
Harmoniously uniting all their various graces; 

By patriarchs and prophets one attended, 
Bearing aloft the eternal laws of Moses, 

While round the other, 'mid trophies of all ages, 

Stand heroes, poets, orators, philosophers, and sages. 

XLI. 

" Yet, wonderful to tell ! the world yet seems 

Too stormy for these visitors divine ; 
Their glory comes upon us as in fitful gleams 

Through breaking storm-clouds struggling sunbeams 
shine. 
Yet I have seen them, in my sweetest dreams, 

Oh, England! cruel country, and yet mine! 
Look down upon thee with their loving eyes, 
And felt their breath in every breeze that wafts them 
through our skies. 

XLII. 

" To other climes and more propitious skies 
I fear they've fled from Albion forever. 

Beyond the sea a wondrous country lies, 

Where I have been, and, oh, if I could sever 

The bond of bonds which my old heart yet ties, — 
True to my country, — may I desert her never ! — 

There would I go; for there I saw a vision, 

Liberty preparing homes for true Religion. 

XLIII. 

"But thou canst go. Go, then, and be the queen 

Of that vast continent beyond the sea, 
The fairest country man has ever seen, 

And let the partner of thy throne be Liberty. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 21 

If thou canst woo and win him, Englishmen 

Thy empire will uphold with loyalty ; 
Build there thine altar; perhaps to thee 'tis given, 
A second Eve, to dwell in a more lasting Eden. 



o 



XLIV. 

" But as for me, thou knowest soon I must 
Take leave of Time, of all on earth take leave. 

Even such is Time, that takes on trust 
Our youth, our joys, our all we have, 

And pays us but with age and dust; 
Who in the dark and silent grave, 

When we have wandered all our ways, 

Shuts up the story of our days."* 



BOOK II. 

THE SMITHEID. 



The maid regretful left that grand old knight, 
With sad and tender heart and tearful eye, 

To think that one so good, so brave and bright, 
Should be a prisoner condemned to die. 

His wondrous tales had oft been her delight, 
And he, the very pink of chivalry, 

Had done for England many a deed of fame, 

And on Columbia's shore had left a deathless name. 

IT. 

Oh, brave Sir Walter! if with thee had died 
That chivalry so little honored in this day, 

* The last six lines of stanza 44 were composed by R,aleigh the night 
before his execution. 



22 THE LOVES OF 

So sneered at by the politicians, who deride, 
Through whining noses, all that does not pay; 

That bold high spirit which doth override 
All obstacles and force them to give way, 

That pure ambition, and that lofty pride. 

That love of liberty by which man's deified, — 

III. 

Oh, then the wond'ring world would not have seen 

A vast republic rise before its eyes, 
The home of happy millions of freemen, 

As if by magic, that took men by surprise ! 
A century of perfect peace ; and then, 

Oh, sin ! oh, sorrow ! — but why and whence these 
sighs? 
Let truthful History the sad tale relate : 
My Muse will only sing Virginia and her fate. 

IV. 

Fair young Virginia then, in 160% 

Prepared to bid her native land good-night : 

Not that she felt herself from England driven, 
But, full of hope and inspiration bright, 

With fond anticipations of a foreign heaven, 
She gathered round her many a gallant knight, 

And, culling all she could from England's court, 

Spread forth her sail to heaven under Captain New- 
port. 

v. 

But ere she sailed she had a conversation 
With Cousin Jonathan, a tall, thin lad, 

Religiously inclined, of that denomination 
Which in this world by solemn look and sad 

Hopes in the next to cower by damnation ; 
Yet, wanting men, with Jonathan she had 

A little talk, and in his ear she told 

Sir Walter's charming story of the land of gold. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 23 

VI. 

''Perish the gold!" cried Jonathan the saint; 

" Religious liberty is what we need ; 
And if the land be free from Popish taint, 

And codfish be so plenty, — 'tis agreed: 
I'll go, I guess; and when we're well acquaint, 

I'll teach you all the arts of gainful trade. 
Religious liberty ! to grow rich at pleasure 
And thank Almighty God for it at leisure." 

VII. 

Jonathan cast up his eyes, spoke through his nose, 
And looked so solemn when he said all this, 

Virginia laughed and showed her pearly rows: 
She could not help it, though he took it amiss. 

She knew not then, the innocent! nor yet knows, 
That money-making is a saintly bliss, 

That Jonathan believed the law all gammon 

Which says, " Thou canst not serve both God and 
Mammon." 

VIII. 

Due preparation made, brave Newport put to sea, 
His precious freight America's fair queen ; 

" For Roanoke ! for Roanoke !" they shout in glee, 
Look back till Albion is no longer seen, 

Then forward to the land of liberty 

Their white-winged vessels skim the ocean green, 

Till Charles and Henry open wide their arms, 

And Chesapeake's broad bosom soothes their late 
alarms. 

IX. 

Now. smiles the sparkling face of that old bay, 
That slept for ages hid from mortal eye; 

Her bosom's undulations seem to say, 
Oh, 'tis for joy that we rise and sigh ! 

The breezes from the land turn short the other way, 
As when careering idly through the sky 



24 THE LOVES OF 

They first espy the vessels, seize the tired sails, 
And, whistling- a welcome, bear them on in frolic gales 

x. 

At Old Point Comfort pausing now awhile, — 
A most uncomfortable point it was of late, — 

The brave adventurers again set sail ; 
And guided by the rudder of kind fate, 

And wafted onward by the gentle gale, 
They glided up the Powhatan, — a great 

And noble river, which they named the James: 

A bad beginning, surely, as to names. 

XL 

Our ancestors with loyalty were tainted, 
And had regard for all established law ; 

In the creed of many, kings were sainted, 

And to the throne they looked with love and awe. 

Nor is this strange ; for they were not acquainted 
With "the best government the world e'er saw." 

The truth is this, that every heart is loyal 

To the ruler of the land, if he is truly royal. 

XII. 

And now it was a touching sight to see 

Those gallant men who from their homes had fled 

To pathless solitudes away from tyranny, 
As if with distance fear and hate were dead, 

And all their loyal love returned with liberty, 
And while for home some tender tears they shed, 

Begin to deck the forest with old names 

Familiar to them in the fatherland of James. 

XIII. 

So up the river sailed those vessels three, 
Bearing Virginia and her infant nation, 

Until they reached a point where now we see 
A solitary chimney, to our great admiration ; 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 25 

For what, at what was Jamestown, could there be 

T' afford a colony accommodation, 
Save six fathoms water for three ships abreast? 
And they were weary, and they badly wanted rest. 

XIV. 

Yet there they anchored : on that virgin sod 
Stepped forth the fairest maid of modern times, 

To take possession in the name of God 

Of fairest land beneath most genial climes ; 

More favored far than that ^Eneas trod, 

Who, driven from Troy in those ancient times, 

Located in a litter of white pigs ; 

Though after came to us the Dutch, with their black 
nigs. 

xv. 

There was a hero not unknown to fame 

"Who came out with Virginia, and would compare 
With ^Eneas or any other hero ; but his name, 
" Alas! was Smith, — John Smith! and yet I dare 
To tinge the classic cheek with blush of shame ; 

For seriously and on honor I declare, 
And I can prove it if it be denied, 
John Smith deserves a better poem than the JSneid. 

XVI. 

J^neas fled from Troy in disgrace ; 

Smith left his country for his country's good, 
With sword and lance, bold heart, and cheerful face; 

The Trojan, carrying plunder all he could, 
Fled in the night, at such a hurried pace, 

Though on his shoulders sat Anchises the good, 
He left his wife behind, — the faithful Creusa, 
Which was the most uugallant trick I ever knew, sir. 

XVII. 

Then floundering o'er the seas JEaeas went; 
But where? nor he nor vou nor I know T ; 
3 



26 THE LOVES OF 

But several very fruitless years he spent 

In wandering : so he told fair Dido 
When she asylum to the wanderer lent. 

And what do you think at Carthage he did do 1 
Why, took advantage of a thunder-storm, 
And did, alas ! what only gods do without harm ; 

XVIII. 

Then, like a careless sailor, hoisted sail, 

And pushed off reckless from the friendly port 

Where loving woman listened to his tale 
Of perils passed and battles he had fought, 

Till her heart fired as her cheek grew pale, 

And love's wild fury from his words she caught, 

And lavished on him all that wealth of love 

Due Yenus' son and the grandson of Jove. 

XIX. 

Thus conquered once he fled from burning Troy, 
Thus conquering he fled the lists of Love, 

Each time looked back and saw the flames destroy 
His home, his wife, his mistress; yet, to prove 

Himself the hero whom the gods employ 

To tear down kingdoms or their state improve, 

He sails for Sicily, and there his crew solaces 

With boxing-matches, quoits,, boat- and foot-races, 

XX. 

Then up the Tiber steals this son of Yenus, 
Locates his kingdom in the white sow's sty, 

With silly oracles confounds Latinus, 

Knocks all the queen's arrangements into pi, 

Steals the fair bride of warlike Cousin Turnus, 
Whom false Lavinia yields without a sigh, 

Then, winding up with show of a small war, 

Knocks Turnus on the head, his final coup d'etat, 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 27 



XXI. 

And this the hero you'd compare to Smith ! 

Between the two there's no comparison ; 
For everybody knows ^Eneas was a myth, 

While Smith, per se, was a whole garrison 
'Mongst the wild Indians, for so says Stith ; 

And I can prove he was as rare a son 
Of chivalry in those ages of Romance, 
As e'er, to please the ladies, ran a man through with a 
lance. 

XXII. 

Oh, gallant captain, 'tis a crying shame 
Thou'st had no poet! Had I Virgil's pen, 

I'd ask the Legislature to change thy name, 
And write a Smintheid. Forever then 

Don Juan Smintheus would be known to fame, 
And drag his poet from his obscure den. 

On thy broad neck my monument should rise, 

A second Boswell raised by Johnson to the skies. 

XXIII. 

Time presses, and I've other fish to fry, 

And Smith is not the hero of this tale. 
But, briefly hurrying on, I'll tell you why 

I think a Smintheid would raise the gale. 
Smith was a hero when he was a boy : 

No perils made his beardless cheek grow pale ; 
Through countless dangers and in various strife 
He played the hero through his whole long life. 

XXIV. 

He fought with pirates, capturing a prize, 
And spent the money looking out for more; 

Shipwrecked once, again the sea he tries ; 

Thrown overboard, for miles he swam ashore ; 

Reduced to-day, to-morrow he would rise; 
With equal mind good luck and bad he bore ; 



28 THE LOVES OF 

Now sword in hand, with princes by his side, 
Against the Turks you '11 -see him bravely ride. 

XXV. 

'Twas at the siege of Regan, for the ladies' sake, 
Three Turks in single combat he did fight. 

Fierce Turbisha proposed Smith's head to take 
And set it on a spear, — a goodly sight ! 

Smith thought the Turk's a better show would make, 
And so he cut it off: and served him right. 

To avenge his friend, on rushed the bold Grualgro, 

Who lost his head ; and so did Bonomalgro. 

XXVI. 

For these and other actions in the field 

The prince gave Smith his picture set in gold, 

A coat of arms, — three Turks' heads on a shield, 
With " vincere est vivere," a motto for the bold, — 

A horse, a ci meter, and a belt would yield 

Three hundred ducats, and three hundred to hold 

For life: then with three Turks' heads on lances 

They march him in procession on a horse that prances. 

XXVII. 

Oh, that was glory ! but, alas for heroes ! 

Fate smiles at noon and frowns perhaps ere nig^ht. 
At Rotenton he fell. How ? God only knows, 

But down he went for dead, left in sad plight. 
But Yenus again was there to interpose ; 

So he was cured and cared for, that he might 
Be sold to Basha Bogal, who, like a gander, 
Sent Smith, a present, to bis mistress Tragabigzanda. 

XXVIII. 

Tragabigzanda was both fair and loving; 

She spoke Italian, and Smith spoke it too : 
And soon their conversation grew so moving 

The Basha had not liked it, if he knew. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 29 

But she, for fear that Smith would soon be roving, 

Or to keep him where more safely they might woo, 
Sent him to her brother, a long way off, 
Somewhere, I think, upon the Sea of Azof. 

XXIX. 

This brother was the Basha of Nalbraitz, 
And had no more appreciation than a hog 

Of Smith, the pearl thus thrown him by the Fates, 
But put a collar on him, like a dog, 

And set him to threshing corn, — oh, unkind Fates ! — 
While he sat watching by, upon a log. 

Smith whirled his flail and broke the Basha's head, 

Mounted the Basha's horse, and from that country fled. 

XXX. 

Then o'er the desert, with his horse and bag 

Of corn he'd threslVd the Basha for, 
Our hero wandered, and, had not his nag 
. Been a true Arab, without Turkish law 
He'd perished ; but nor horse nor man did flag, 

Until upon the banks of Don he saw 
A Russian fortress with its turrets rise, 
In a most Christian manner, upward to the skies. 

XXXI. 

Before the governor our hero they did bring 
In hair-cloth shirt and in his iron collar ; 

But when they saw he bore him like a king, 
And called not God the hated name of Allah, 

But was a Christian, or — what was the same thing — 
Had killed three Turks, and was not at all yellow, 

They treated him with Christian hospitality, 

Took off his iron collar, and gave him eau-de-vie. 

xxxii. 

This was a Christian act. The Russian nation 
Believed in brandy from the earliest times : 
3* 



30 THE LOVES OF 

It was to them a source of man's salvation, — 
A dogma natural in those frosty climes. 

And if, kind reader, you'll excuse digression, 

And I can press the story in a few short rhymes, 

I'll tell you what was told me by Voltaire, — 

Not orthodox authority, I know ; but you don't care, 

XXXITL 

In Russia once a great dispute arose, 

If either was, which was the greater sin, 

To puff tobacco-smoke through mouth or nose, 
Or swallow through the gullet wine and gin. 

The brandy-loving Russian to the Bible goes, 
And, by his text, most surely he did win : 

" 'Tis not what goeth into man that soils, 

But only that which cometh from his mouth defiles." 

XXXIV. 

Then over Russian steppes and Polish plains 
Our hero homeward hied, with heart renewed ; 

Ovations as he passed soothed all his pains, 
Flowers for the hero all his pathway strewed. 

And if he regretted Tragabigzanda's chains, 
And o'er his fate he was disposed to brood, 

Or if the iron collar chafed again, 

Kind Callimata's white arms soothed the pain. 

XXXV. 

Thus having filled all Europe with his fame, 
With deeds heroical half crazed the men, 

And touched the tender heart of many a dame, 
As war was for a brief space at an end, 

To a new continent the captain came, 
His reputation that he might extend; 

Rode on his way through Africa and Spain, 

And fought with pirates, just to keep his hand in. 



JO X A Til AN AND VIRGINIA. 31 



XXXVI. 

And well did Smith select his field of battle; 

For here was glory to be won anew. 
For ne'er drove herdsman such unruly cattle, 

Or captain governed such a mutinous crew, 
Or woman stirred up with her idle tattle, 

In the old country, such a fearful stew, 
As waited here for Smith, — ex- and internal foes, 
False friends, starvation, Indians, and musquitoes. 

XXXVII. 

Behold him now on Powhatan's green banks, 

Where Jamestown's monumental chimney stands, 

Mustering: bis o-entlemanlv rairired ranks, 

A reckless crew, who, heedless of commands, 

Waste all their time in dissipated pranks, 
Or, wandering idly on the shining sands 

In search of gold, find only yellow mica, 

And ship to England loads not worth a fica. 

XXXVIII. 

Starvation stares Virginia in the face, 
As from her pine-log cabin she looks out, 

A thing of beauty, purity, and grace, 

Such as the cameo-carver from dark stone works out. 

Still, in that morning smile there is no trace 
Of fear, irresolution, or of doubt : 

Though hunger may have made her somewhat faint, 

Yet Smith and Hunt are with her, the soldier and the 
saint. 

XXXIX. 

And here a little prophecy peeps forth, 
A social truth yet hidden in the germ, 

In the cold North as true as in the South, 
Developed both in sunshine and in storm, 

By age illustrated, and received by youth : 
If saint and hero be of manly form, 



32 THE LOVES OF 

That woman loves the hero if he's civil, 

And the saint who in the pulpit fights the devil. 

XL. 

She loves, par eminence, the man who fights 

Against her foes, — or spiritual or real. 
In combats of all kinds the priest delights, 

For every day he has to fight the devil : 
He'll fight in armor e'en for civil rights, 

As seen in the late war, which men call civil. 
And truly the church militant was no joke 
To those who felt the blows of Pendleton and Polk. 

XLI. 

Now, in this country, everybody knows, 

Church-going is the only recreation; 
Each sex decked out each Sunday goes, 

As to a place of holy assignation : 
There souls, like mice, safe from external foes, 

Steal from the eyes, creep through the congregation, 
Until the preacher, with exquisite tact, 
Springs cat-like on them in the very act. 

XLII. 

True piety I honor, as God only knows ; 

But what I worship is beyond the skies: 
And if old Socrates did knock off the nose 

Of Mercury's fair statue, 'twas to show the lies 
His countrymen believed. And thus, with blows 

That bring the dust of ages in my eyes, 
I'll hammer on for Truth and the true God, 
Though men have hemlock for me, or s"ome other rod. 

XLIII. 

Smith first in arms, Hunt first in gown, 

Were young Virginia's first and truest friends ; 

And though to womanhood she now has grown, 
Her sweetest smiles on saint and hero spends. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 33 

Fair flowers in their path are ever strown ; 

To fight her battles still these two she sends, 
And gives them all that she may have to spare, 
Nay, sometimes even more than their fair share. 

XLIV. 

I like the fighting parson ; as a man he's true ; 

But I don't like the parson, so to say, per se ; 
E'er since I was a boy, 'tween me and you, * 

Black coat and white cravat have frightened me ; 
"We did antagonize : and upward as I grew, 

The question still was asked, — which — I or he — 
Was bad? which going surely to the devil? 
My answer was quite natural, perhaps not civil. 

XLV. 

But priests are priests in every time and place : 

They baptize, marry, bury, and beget us. 
Nor should we scold if, while they offer grace 
. To overcome the sin that doth beset us, 
They look so sadly on the human race, 

And hold us back from pleasure, though it fret us," 
Like children, to whose merry hearts 'tis given 
Only to hope for some far-off future heaven. 

XLVI. 

However this may be, we know 'tis true 

That Smith and Hunt sav^d young Virginia's life: 

By energetic measures, hanging up a few, 
And starving others, put an end to strife. 

Like men of might they marched among the crew 
Of ragged gentlemen when mutiny was rife, 

And by main force of character and sense 

Around Virginia's cabin made them build a fence. 

XL VII. 

Dear reader, do not laugh ; this was no little thing, — 
This fence the warriors call a palisade : 



34 THE LOVES OF 

And when Virginia heard the war-whoop ring, 

When thus inclosed, she was not much afraid, 
So long as. either Smith or Hunt was guarding. 
And when for food bold Smith was on a raid, 
The savages were cowering like little chickens 
When o'er them sails the hawk threatening to play the 
dickens. 

XL VIII. 

Thus down to Hampton sailing once he went 
In search of corn Virginia wished to buy, 

And, after days in fruitless efforts spent, 
He found the Indians, only to see them fly. 

But on success our hero bold was bent, 

And soon by signs induced them to come nigh ; 

Then, thinking that he was a man forlorn, 

The Indians asked a musket for one ear of corn. 

XLIX. 

Smith gave it to them, much to their surprise ; 

^Five muskets fired, and five Indians fell ; 
And helter-skelter every Indian flies, 

And in the forest throw themselves pell-mell. 
But, lo ! upon the ground their Okee lies ! 

Smith grabbed the god and used him like a spell ; 
For, having thus possession of their Okee, 
He made them bring him venison, corn, and turkey. 



Now up the Chickahominy he rows 

A light canoe, with two men and a guide, 

Seeking the springs from which the river flows. 
High up the stream, above the highest tide, 

He leaves the men and boat, and off he goes, 
The bold explorer! one Indian at his side. 

But, lo ! upon his trail King Opecancanough 

Has tomahawked the men who slept by the canoe. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 35 

LT. 

Two hundred devils, in the livery of hell, 

Followed this Indian King of the Pamunkey ; 

And soon round Smith a shower of arrows fell. 
They found the guardian of Virginia spunky; 

And, though he heard two hundred Indians yell 
Worse than as many brazen-throated donkey, 

He swore he'd fight them all, and would not yield, 

And bound the Indian guide before him, as a shield. 

LII. 

Steady stood Smith, firm as the leafless oak 

When storms sweep by the red and whirling leaves : 

As on his manly form the savage column broke, 

Down went beneath his sword three bravest braves ; 

Then, with a war-whoop that the woods arwoke, 
They rushed upon him, but to find more graves; 

And ne'er would they have taken such a man as he, 

Had he not, stepping backward, sunk in Chicka- 
hominy. 

Mil. 

Deep was the mire, and the waters cold, 

And Smith was nearly frozen ere he did get out ; 

To catch so big a fish the savages grew bold, 

And drew him from the morass with a fearful shout. 

But, to give the devil's due, it must be told, 
And of the fact I've not the smallest doubt, 

They made a fire on the very spot, 

And chafed Smith's members till he grew quite hot. 

LIV. 

'Tis well established, and a suggestive fact : 
It shows the savage had a kindly heart, 

That one would not suspect when in the act 
Of hurling tomahawk or shooting dart; 

But the poor Indian did not have the tact, 
At any rate, he had not learned the art, 



36 THE LOVES OF 

To gild with modern skill and silvery grace 
The native features of bis copper-colored face. 

LV. 

He was what he appeared, — a child of nature ; 

He hunted white men, as we hunt the fox, — 
A noxious animal and a curious creature, 

That suddenly appeared amidst his hills and rocks, 
Quite different from Indians in form aud feature, 

And capable of giving most infernal knocks. 
And so the simple savage swore, "By zounds! 
We are going to oust you from our hunting-grounds." 

LVI. 

Now, if the readers of these times suppose 

The Indians were a cruel race of men, 
Because they tomahawked and scalped their foes, 

They don't read history with judicious ken; 
And they forget, when boys, how with bows 

And barbed arrows they prowled through some glen 
Where marshes were, and in the peaceful bogs 
With devilish delight they shot the harmless frogs. 

LVII. 

Man preys on man ; big fish on smaller fry. 

Now, then, hereafter, 'neath all skies and climes, 
The Indians took scalps and hung them up to dry, 

As trophies of their valor, that in after-times 
With warriors and women would raise their fame on 
high. 

But who records the dollars and the dimes 
His enemy had stolen? the hearts he has broke ? 
The days, the nights, the years, 'neath Poverty's hard 
yoke ? 

LVIII. 

♦ 

But Smith did not complain in his hard strait ; 
And we must try and be as brave as he. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 37 

Till he got warm the Indians did wait; 

But then they took and bound him to a tree, 
And death seemed now inevitable fate; 

When a small compass made of ivory, 
Drawn from his pocket, drew the crowd around him, 
And so, to see it better, thev unbound him. 



LIX. 

"With presence then of mind that did seem godlike, 
He showed the needle pointing to the pole, 

And then explained how the flat earth was podlike, 
And if they'd dig- straight through a well or hole, 

Though it was still revolving, an apple on a rod like, 
They'd find there people standing sole to sole; 

In short, he gave a lecture on geography and science, 

Which gave him reputation and saved immediate vio- 
lence. 

LX. 

But what to do with Smith Prince Opecancanough 
Could scarce decide : to kill was not the thing, 

A man who with the Devil had so much to do : 
Upon them all much evil it might bring: 

He might be kin to Okee, for all he knew. 
To take him then to Powhatan, the kins', 

It was decided; so then in Indian file 

They marched him off to Orapakes, some twenty mile. 



'o» 



IXI. 

When they approached this village, it was night; 

The muckawiss its melancholy song was singing 
In the deep forests, lit only by the light 

Of a full moon ; when they, who now were bringing 
Their solitary prisoner to show him for a sight, 

Sent forth a yell that, through the wigwams ringing, 
Brought forth the old and young to see the show: 
Smith was the captured elephant they had in tow. 

4 



I 

38 THE LOVES OF 

LX1I. 

To Wampanoag's wigwam now they led him ; 

With blazing pine-knots it was lit up bright: 
On venison and bread the matrons fed him, 

And' all the maids came in to see the sight ; 
And there were not a few who thought to wed him 

Would be to them most rapturous delight ; 
But, from the way they really did treat him, 
Smith thought they meant to fatten and to eat him. 

LXITI. 

But the sweet savage women had no such idea ; 

With charitable hands they first unbound him, 
Then by degrees they timidly came near, 

And in a circle soon they all surround him ; 
While some, more curious and with little fear, 

Undid his breeches — which did much confound him ; 
But curiosity's the sex's sin; 
They only wished to see the color of Smith's skin. 

LXIV. 

Around him then they circled in the dance, 

Their black hair flowing down their shoulders bare ; 

And many showed by open loving glance 
How clear the hero's always to the fair. 

But vain their smiles ! vain all their wanton prance ! 
Our hero's heart, though firm, was full of care : 

He thought of dear Virginia left alone, — 

What she must suffer, — then what fate his own. 

LXV. 

Thus I would make the statue of my hero : 
Midst terror and temptation a grand form ; 

Pure and courageous, though fortune was at zero; 
As patriotic as the heroes of old Rome ; 

Midst love's temptations only cruel as a Nero ; 
A figure finer than in Place Vendome 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 39 

Frowns down on poor old Paris, Napoleon's toy ; 
For Smith was born to create, — not destroy. 

Lxvr. 

The fires out, the naked squaws all gone, 
In Wampanoag's wigwam all was quiet; 

Smith thought the trials of the day were done, 
So to sleep upon some coon-skins he would try it. 

And so he did; but he was not alone: 

Love has its combats, let who will deny it ; 

And with mankind, 'tis a most curious thing, 

By night blind Cupid's mostly on the wing. 

LXVII. 

But Smith was not the lover nor the loved ; 

He only saw a little Indian love-scene : 
Upon all-fours a lusty Indian moved 

Towards the spot where slept his dusky queen. 
Smith thought him an assassin ; but 'twas proved 

That, though his dagger might be long and keen, 
'Twas not intended for the heart of Smith, 
But only for the heart of her he was in love with. 

LXVIII. 

In the hollow of his hand he held a light, 

As creeping near he waked his sleeping beauty; 

Then, to his quite unspeakable delight, 
She bjew the light out, as was her duty. 

How Smith did pass the remnant of that night 
Historians have not told ; and, though astute, I 

Cannot, upon my honor, truly say 

Whether he wished to stay there or to run away. 

LXIX 

Whate'er he wished, he had no power to fly ; 

And in the morn the King of the Pamunkey 
Led him through the nations that lived nigh, 

As boys would lead a baboon or a monkey, 



40 THE LOVES OF 

Yet showing reverence almost as high 

As once was shown the victim on the donkey. 
And thus they led him through the Youghtanunds, 
Mattaponies, Piankatanks, and Nantaughtacunds. 

LXX. 

At length they entered Opecancanough's chief town, 

Leading our hero like a lion caged, 
With hideous whoop and war-dance circling round, 

Now rushing at him as if enraged, 
Now crouching, as if Smith might knock 'em down ; 

Nor was the tempest at all assuaged, 
Until he taught the Indian, who wished to plant gun- 
powder, 
'Twould grow and bring forth thunder, or something 
louder. 

LXXI. 

By courage, blows, and simple manly art, 
He had so won their fear and admiration, 

The chief concluded now to make an early start 
And take his prize to the monarch of their nation, 

Who lived at Werocomico, near that lovely part 
Just opposite what's now the Falls plantation, 

Where the waters of the James come tumbling down 

And send for miles around a gently roaring sound. 

LXXTI. 

There, in his wigwam, on a throne of wood, 
Which, for an emperor, is good as gold, 

Sat Powhatan, great, brave, and good, 

King of all tribes the James and York enfold. 

On either side a squaw demurely stood, — 
But whether naked history has not told ; 

A coronet of feathers was the king's fine crown, 

And coon-skins, with their tails on, made his roval 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 41 

LXXIII. 

Opitchapan stood near, a head above the rest, 
The chief war-captain of this Indian king; 

A huge turtle-shell did shield his breast, 

And from his girdle hung a curious thing, — 

An otter-skin, whose tail between his legs was prest; 
He had his tomahawk, and knife for scalping: 

His red hair ridged like the comb of a cock, 

And a huge eagle's feather through his nose was stuck. 

LXXTV. 

On either side were ranged along the wall 
A double row of Indian men and squaws ; 

Red were their heads and shoulders painted all : 
'Twas a good fashion, for it hid all flaws, 

And showed off well a necklace of white ball, 

Which all wore, strung together on the flexile straws 

That grew along the banks of marshy streams; 

Yet horrid pictures were they, and from their eyes such 
gleams ! 

LXXV. 

To the fire in the centre Smith was brought, 
And stood the centre of their savage eyes 

With folded arms ; with his calm eyes he sought 
To read his doom whether he lives or dies. 

There was behind the king a glance he caught; 
And he thought, too, he heard some tender sighs, 

That made him hope, behind the throne a friend 

In his extremity at last some help would lend. 

LXXVI. 

Nor was he mistaken, as the sequel proved ; 

For on his graceful, tall, and manly form 
Glowed the dark liquid eyes of one who loved 

Already, at first sight, with passion warm. 
And sweeter to a heart that ne'er was moved 

By an ideal with the novel charm 
4* 



42 THE LOVES OF 

Of .ill the graces of the Saxon race, 

In Smith's form chiseled and glowing in his face. 

LXXVII. 

Sweet Indian maiden, with those melancholy eyes, 
That found not their ideal in thy dusky race ; 

Whose black hair glowed with gold and purple dyes, 
Like the wild turkey's plumage, and concealed the 
grace 

Of charming bust, descending to thy thighs 
Like those of a young Venus ; and whose face 

Expressed the purest virtue and the softest thought ! 

By thee alone it was Smith's precious life was bought. 

LXXVII I. 

Would I had seen thee in thy native grace! 

Sweet Pocahontas! wild Western maid ! 
That type of Indian loveliness, whose race 

Has passed away before the tramp of trade, 
That in its progress has scarce left a trace 

Of Nature's beauty, which good God had made 
To adorn our forests and to give us cheer, 
Save birds that boys shoot, and some few hunted deer. 

LXXIX. 

And there she stood, the daughter of a king, 
Quite unadorned, and so adorned the most ; 

For she had nothing on — not even a stocking 
To hide the swelling calf that she could boast; 

And though some people now would think this shocking, 
Those used to clothes, as no doubt thou dost, 

Yet she did know no better ; and who denies, 

"Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise''? 

LXXX. 

'Twas soon decided that brave Smith must die: 
Two Indians brought the immolation stone ; 



*- JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 43 

Tears welled up in the tender maiden's eye, 

But sympathy was felt by her alone. 
Upon the stone Smith's head was made to lie: 

The clubs were raised, the deed was nearly done, 
When forth the princess rushed, with frantic cries, 
And, 'neath the threat'ning clubs, prone on his body 
lies. 

LXXXI. 

Now, Pocahontas was the favorite daughter 
Of Powhatan, who, true Nature's child, 

Could pass with ease from love to slaughter, 
And so from fierce emotions to the most mild. 

So now, in spite of council and as he ought to, 
By Pocahontas' passion quite beguiled, 

He bade his daughter rise, and said, " For thy sake 

Bold Smith shall live, and all my trinkets make." 

LXXX1I. 

And soon he grew so fond of the line fellow 
He offered Smith the choice of his squaws ; 

Smith thought them both a little bit too yellow, 
And had his own idea of marriage laws ; 

Nor would he lay his head on Powhatan's green pillow, 
In spite of " modern instances" and wise saws. 

But when the women heard the proposition, 

They fought like tigers for tl^e new position. 

LXXXIII. 

But Smith declined politely, as a hero should: 

Herein again to JEneas superior. 
Some of our modern heroes have not been so good ; 

For Western squaws, they say, are far inferior 
To those sweet savages whom Smith withstood; 

And Powhatan's consent withdrew all barrier. 
But there are few like Smith : and, be this as it may, 
The face of Pocahontas beamed brightly all that day. 



44 THE LOVES OF 



LXXXIV. 



At length his liberty our hero gained : 

To go to Jamestown he was now allowed ; 

But this on one condition only was attained: 
Two of those big guns that thunder loud, 

A grindstone circular and finest grained, 

Were presents of which Powhatan were proud. 

Smith promised, and the Indians came next day, 

And found the guns too heavy for them to take away. 

LXXXV. 

Oft, led by love, through weather fine or murky, 

Came Pocahontas to the English fort, 
To bring Virginia venison and turkey; 

But, if she came to have a little sport, 
She always found the captain hard at work : he 

Had no time to trifle nor to conrt ; 
And while Virginia's smiles upon him play, 
The Indian faded, like the moon in the bright day. 

LXXXVI. 

But once in twilight's tender hour they stood 
On Powhatan's green bank, abstractly gazing 

Upon the waters gliding by, — a mood 
That lovers know; and 'tis amazing 

That then and there the maiden was not wooed. 
But Smith's imagination then was grazing 

In far-off pastures, where his cattle strayed, 

And so with folded arms he stood, oblivious of the 
maid. 

LXXXVII. 

Not so the Indian maid. She turned her eyes 
Prom flowing waters to that still, stern form ; 

To win one glance by every art she tries ; 
His heart is cold, and hers so soft and warm. 

"Ah, cruel one!" she murmurs, and she sighs. 
She comes still nearer ; but she means no harm ; 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 45 

Tears fill those tender eyes so soft and bright; 

She leans her head upon his arm, and sobs outright. 

LXXXVITI. 

" Dear Pocahontas, saviour of my life!" 

Smith said, and clasped her round the waist, 

" If fate forbids that thou shalt be my Avife, 
Do not on me thy sweet affection waste ; 

Between thy race and mine is endless strife; 

Come, see the queen I love with passion chaste." 

And, taking in his arms the maid so sweet, 

He brought her to Virginia, both kneeling at her feet. 

LXXXIX. 

" Accept, my queen, this Indian maiden's love; 

'Tvvas mine, and I transfer it now to thee; 
I know, for my sake, she will faithful prove. 

Be beautiful to her as e'er to me, 
And she will love and prize thee far above 

The greatest of thy men, whoe'er he be; 
Inspire her with passion worthy of her heart, 
Thy learning, virtue, piety to her mind impart." 

xc. 

The hero rose, and sadly went his way; 

Nor did his heart recover its high tone 
Till, in a battle that came off next day, 

He slew three Indians with his sword alone. 
Yet then, when silence followed the fierce fray, 

And o'er the scene the moon so sadly shone, 
In solitude he stood, and, I'm afraid, 
A tear of pity dropped for the poor Indian maid. 

xci. 

But Time, the healer of sore hearts, passed by, 

And waved his Lethean wand o'er Smith's bowed 
head ; 



46 THE LOVES OF 

And daily labor helped; Virginia too was nigh, 
For whom he must provide her daily bread. 

And so, with cheerful face, though now and then a sigh 
For love's sweet sacrifice, but manly heart, 

He marched along the path of loyal duty, 

And soon thought little of the Indian beauty. 

xcn. 

So, too, with Pocahontas: when the tide 

Of sorrow rose and flowed from her sad eyes, 

And many days o'er her lost love she sighed, 
She turned her eyes to those cerulean skies, 

That a new heaven from her soul did hide, 
And Christian virtues in her heart arise. 

So, too, like Eve, with knowledge born of sin, 

She made herself an apron of soft otter-skin. 

XCIII. 

Soon, too, she grew enamored of the charms 
That fair Virginia offered to her sight ; 

The love of nature her cold heart now warms ; 
She learned to watch the shadows and the light 

Play on Virginia's face ; and, in alarms 
Of Indian treachery, 'twas her delight 

To bring the news of clanger in the night, 

That Smith might have his men all ready for the fight. 

xciv. 

At length, quite weaned from her rude savage life, 
She learned to like and e'en to love pale-faces ; 

And when young Rolfe did woo her for his wife, 
And promise he would lead her into pleasant places, 

His native England, with all wonders rife, 
She was so taken with his Saxon graces 

That she consented ; and, with for Smith a sigh, 

She bade Virginia and her early love good-by. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 47 

xcv. 
Now, from this union of the Saxon and the savage 

A line descended to the present day ; 
Names, some distinguished in historic page, — 

Boiling, Murray, Eldridge, Robertson, and Gay ; 
And doctors, statesmen, orators, and sage, 

In whom the savage almost fades away ; 
And then there was John Randolph of Roanoke, 
Who was, so I have heard, quite savage — when he 
spoke. 

xcvi. 
Now under Smith's wise, energetic measures 

The colony at length begins to thrive; 
The men no longer search the sand for treasures, 

But for the golden corn beneath the sod they dive. 
They plant tobacco, and, with various lures, 

Induce the Indians to trade, and give 
A week's provision for a bright blue bead, 
Or some such trifle that they did not need. 

xcvu. 
Houses they build, and gardens they inclose : 

They clear the land and cultivate the farms ; 
From distant forests only peep their foes. 

Virginia, free from Indian alarms, 
Her smiling face abroad all day she shows, 

Inspires her subjects with her budding charms, 
Till hope and plenty, courage and content, 
By fertile land and her blue eye are lent. 

XCV1II. 

Alas ! how often, in this changeful world, 

The darkest night succeeds the brightest day ! 

O'er the calm sea, our flowing sails unfurled, 
We ride in joy while the zephyrs play. 

The cloud comes o'er; then, by tempests whirled, 
O'er raging billows we are borne away 

Across a trackless sea, we know not whither : 

Our joy turns to fear, our budding hopes all wither. 



48 THE LOVES OF 

XCIX. 

Thus, while the colony was progressing fast, 
The blue sky smiling on the busy scene, 

And men began to think their perils past, 

And, decked with smiles, Virginia's face was seen, 

The gods decided 'twas too bright to last. 
In Smith's sail-boat a fire there had been, 

And a loose bag of powder : a terrible explosion 

Blew the bold hero Smith across the Atlantic Ocean. 

c. 

He ne'er returned to see his mistress dear ; 

But, 'neath the yoke of poverty bowed down, 
The man who never knew or failure or fear, 

Who, nursed by danger, into age had grown, 
And, but for pity's sake, had never shed a tear, — 

Hear his last mournful words, from history known 
"I, who gave empires to the English throne, 
Have not one foot of land that I can call mv own." 



BOOK III. 

VIRGINIA, QUEEN OF THE OLD DOMINION. 



Pass we now over several weary years 

Virginia struggled through in grief and desolation ; 
Indian massacres and nightly fears; 

Times known to history as "times of starvation." 
Virginia passed her youth in trouble and in tears. 

This grand old mother of the Western nation ! 
Yet still she struggled on with pluck that, then 
As now, distinguishes Virginia gentlemen. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 49 

II. 

Her overseers were her greatest trial, 

Sent on by England's avaricious king 
To manage for her, and to keep espial 

On all her acts, and accasations bring 
Against her people ; and then, for trial, 

Instead of jury trial — a favorite thing 
With her — to send them off across the sea, 
Where by Star-chamber convicted they would be. 

in. 

An overseer may, by chance, be good, 

Like De La Ware and good Sir Thomas Dale, 

Yeardly, Andros, and Alexander Spottswood ; 
But, as a general rule, they are for sale. 

Execrable tyrants ! and, by the rood ! 

To feather well their nests they do not fail ; 

While helpless planters their hard lot deplore 

'Neath brutes like Argal, Harvey, Howard, and Dun- 
more. 

IV. 

The overseers lived in their fine houses, 
Virginia ate her corn-cake in her cabin ; 

The planters' wives in homespun gowns and blouses, 
The overseer's wife in silk and satin. 

Man's slow to wrath; but when a woman rouses, 
Some one's sure to get a genteel drubbing. 

It drives a woman to fury and to tears 

To see her overseer's wife put on fine airs. 



But these fine gentlemen, who came to suck 
The life-blood of Virginia's fertile soil, 

And then, if they had reasonable luck, 
Return to England with ill-gotten spoil, 

Made some miscalculations ; for the pluck 
Of our ancestors often proved a foil 
5 



50 THE LOVES OF 

To such misdeeds ; for in their barns they met, 
And the first legislative body did beget. 

VI. 

This House of Burgesses, for so we call 
That legislative body, composed of men 

Who knew their rights and dared maintain them all, 
Was the great bulwark of Virginia ; and when 

King Jamie made his overseers call 
For the tobacco sixpence-tax, and then 

Soon after for a third, it said it meant 

No tax to be collected without its own consent. 

VII. 

Conscious of power, these men who tilled the soil 
Made laws their overseers to restrain ; • 

Claimed for themselves the product of their toil ; 
Fought long against the king with might and main,, 

And with the overseers had many a broil : 

Sometimes they lose, sometimes the battle gain. 

Still, it was strange that he who wrote a book 

Against tobacco once, so much of it now took. 

VIII. 

At length King Jamie had lived long enough, 

And Charles the First was King of England made, 

Who with the planters was a deal more rough : 
By navigation acts he crippled trade, 

So that the planter scarce could get enough 
To eat, so poorly his tobacco paid. 

Then vile monopolies he did create, 

Until the colony at length seemed doomed by Fate. 

IX. 

The stupid Stuarts, puffed up with royal pride, 
By right divine claimed to be created kings j 

Looked down on Parliament and all men beside, 
As we look down upon all meaner things. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 51 

Like the queen-bees, who in their cells reside 

While working-bee the honey to them brings, 
Till, flying grandly forth, at their loud call, 
By law divine, the senseless swarm must follow all. 

x. 

Bat working-bees have wonderful sharp stings, 
And you will know it if you make them mad ; 

And men have stung to death both queens and kings 
When they became intolerably bad. 

And so his tyranny King Charley brings 

Down to the scaffold ; and, although 'twas sad 

To see so elegant a head chopped off, 

At that same moment 'twas Virginia's chains dropped 
off. 

XL 

At length prosperity rewarded toil : . 

Courage and perseverance gained the prize ; 
Rich harvests waved above the fertile soil, 

Glowing with gold that in its bosom lies. 
No tyrant now the planters did despoil : 

The frightened Indian to the forest flies. 
A wife was then the planter's only need, 
And her he bought ere long with love and Indian 
weed. 

XII. 

In that brief time, Virginia's consolation 

For all the perils that she had passed through 

Was unmolested o'er her big plantation 

To roam with Liberty, whom at last she knew, 

To clear away all trace of desolation, 
To dream of palaces and churches new, 

To make her people happy as the day was long, 

And in the evening hear the muckawiss's song. 

XIII. 

Far from the haunts of a luxurious life, 
A new Arcadia she had here created, 



52 THE LOVES OF 

And free from war, from turmoil and strife, 
Witli long-loved Liberty at length she mated. 

'Twas not the Union, though, of man and wife, 

With which both parties sometimes get quite sated ; 

'Twas holy Love, — 'twill last till she is dead, 

Though Liberty grew often skittish and sometimes 
fled. 

XIV. 

From this sweet dream one morning she awoke ; 

Old Mother England stretched her bony arms 
Across th' Atlantic, and thus she spoke, 

Filling Virginia with renew'd alarms: 
" My daughter, you must come 'neath England's yoke; 

You're still my subject, and your budding charms 
Need my protection, lest, by some mischance, 
You fall an easy prey to either Spain or France. 

xv. 

" So now new overseers we will send 

To manage for you on vour big plantation ; 

Both arms and soldiers we will freely lend, 
To keep in order your unruly nation. 

Your manners too they gradually will mend: 
They shall be men of birth and education ; 

Besides, we hear you have a fertile soil, 

And we should have a tenth of all your corn and oil." 

XVI. 

Now, Charley was a gay and gallant king, 

The finest gentleman of all the land; 
Spent all his time in feasting and in courting, 

And had some hundred wives, I understand. 
But while at home the libertine was sporting, 

Virginia suffered by his spendthrift hand: 
Her commerce crippled by " acts of navigation ;" 
Indeed, to two gay lords he gave her whole plantation. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 53 

XVII. 

And now the overseers came again, 

Of whom Sir William Berkeley was the worst, — 
With sweetest manners when a point he'd gain ; 

And all the planters were well pleased at first; 
But soon the cat's paw showed the claw quite plain. 

With martial law the colony was cursed, 
Till Bacon cut his claws aud made him pack, 
One morn, with bag and baggage, down to Accomac. 

XVIII. 

Alas ! the hero who his country saved 

From Indians and tyrants for too brief a space, 

Who Berkeley's bullets all had safely braved, 
Disease consigned to his last resting-place. 

Then Berkeley came again, and cursed and raved; 
Fines, confiscations, murder, his last years disgrace, 

And history says, " Had he been left alone, 

One-half the colony he'd hung ere he had done." 

XIX. 

When Charley died, King James the Second claimed 

The allegiance of the Old Dominion ; 
For thus Virginia's farm was sometimes named, 

Because she had not changed her old opinion, 
And for the death of Charles her ma had blamed. 

JSTot that she was that monarch's petted minion, 
But she was always loyal, true to law, 
Before she knew " the best guv'ment the world e'er 
saw." 

XX. 

But still, while true to abstract royal right, 

She claimed the right of every Englishwoman, 

To enjoy liberty and heaven's free light, 

And on her sacred soil should trespass no man ; 

'Gainst taxes and oppression she would tight 
Both king and council bravely as a Roman. 
5* 



54 THE LOVES OF 

The thought was hers to Pinckney we impute, 
" Millions for defense ! but not a cent for tribute !" 

XXI. 

Such were the principles she has maintained, 
At least while she did lead a single life ; 

And many a civil battle she has gained 
'Gainst king and council after wordy strife. 

By law her overseers she restrained, 

While her brave sons kept off the seal ping-knife 

With their unerring rifles ; till withcut fear 

She fought the French and Indians on her own frontier. 

XXII. 

In Greece and Rome their greatest men arose 
When they were young : so our virgin soil 

Produced the men whose thundering words and blows 
Drove off the tyrants and retook their spoil. 

Our country's danger and her need of heroes 
Nourished the hardy plant with tears and toil : 

Of these the young Virginia could boast 

A Washington, a Henry, and of smaller braves a host. 

XXIII. 

Now George was quite a lad, but he was brave : 
Rode an unbridled colt, like a wild youth ; 

Broke the colt's neck: his mother looked quite grave, 
For 'twas her pet, but smiled when George spoke 
truth. 

He never told a lie, not e'en to save 

A whipping ; and his wild pranks, good sooth ! 

Did lead him into many scrapes and sprees, 

As when with axe he chopped his father's favorite 
trees. 

XXIV. 

But George was poor, and poverty makes grave: 
He early learned to work his mother's farm, 

And grew up strong and hardy, wise and brave ; 
Not with the modern young man's puny arm, 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 55 

But brawny muscle, destined oft to save 

His country from her foes ; his passions warm 
Were early kept in check, and he went forth to life 
A youth by Wisdom girded early for the strife. 

XXV. 

The French stood on the frontier, at Du Quesne, 
And stretched their arms towards the fair Louise, 

Who claimed for France the Mississippi plain : 
" Together," said they, " we will build with ease, 

From north to south, of forts a clasping chain ; 
And, hands around, Virginia we will squeeze 

Until we make the English lady dance 

Into the deep Atlantic — then seize the whole for 
France." 

XXVI. 

It was a goodly scheme ; but Monsieur's arm 
•Was not quite long enough nor strong enough : 

Virginia, who was listening, took th' alarm, 
And sent her George to order Monsieur off, 

And tell him if she found him on her farm 
He'd find her dancing, for him, rather rough. 

Monsieur replied, — he always was polite, — 

"If Madame will not dance, then, Madame, I will fight." 

XXVII. 

Bold was the youth who then would undertake 
To walk from Williamsburg to Fort Du Quesne: 

Virginia's honor and his own at stake, 

George shrank not from the danger or the pain, 

Though with one friend alone the trip he'd make : 
Through pathless solitudes, through snow and rain, 

Through frozen rivers, Indians, bears, and panthers, 

He made the trip triumphant and brought back Mon- 
sieur's answers. 

XXVIII. 

His prudence, courage, and sagacity 

So pleased the overseer, he gave him a command, 



56 TEE LOVES OF 

And sent him back a colonel to Fort Necessity. 

There he killed Junonville, took all his band, 
And at Great Meadows showed such capacity, 

His name was praised through all his native land ; 
And, though to greater numbers he did knock under, 
He brought his men off safely and without a blunder. 

XXIX. 

Again we see him as the aid of Braddock, 
When Braddock fell into an ambuscade: 

The Indians firing from each tree and rock, 
In military tactics there was little aid ; 

And Braddock's men fell slaughtered like a flock 
Of huddled sheep, and Braddock's corpse was laid 

On that sad field : the hero of the day 

Was George, who safely led the shattered ranks away. 

XXX. 

By his wise counsel had the general acted, 
And fought the Indians as the Indians fight, 

That fearful scene had never been enacted, 
Nor that brave army ever put to flight, 

Nor shot each other, by unseen foes distracted, 
Till of three companies were left not quite 

One-ninth : one-third the officer's were killed, 

And so would George have been, had Heaven so 
willed. 

XXXI. 

Two other aids had fallen, and 'twas his lot 
To carry orders through the battle fierce ; 

His flaming sword at each contested spot 
A shining mark, his coat four bullets pierce, 

And under him he had two horses shot. 

In vain sharpshooters picked, till, with a curse, 

An Indian threw his rifle down, dejected, 

And swore he'd shoot no more at one whom God 
protected. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 5f 

XXXII. 

Some weary years now passed in fighting savages, 

In Shenandoah's beautiful green vale, 
Who spared no sex and scalped all ages; 

The force Dinwiddie sent did not avail 
To drive them off, or check their dreadful ravages; 

And George's heart grew sick, and his cheek pale, 
Though oft it burned with indignation, when 
He found the overseer would send him no more men. 

XXXIII. 

At length Dinwiddie left, and under Pitt, 

Beneath the tramp of war, the North was shaken ; 

E'en Jonathan the saint took a hand in it. 

When George arrived, he found Du Quesne forsaken ; 

Crown Point and Niagara the French were forced to 
quit, 
And by the gallant Wolfe Quebec was taken. 

So finally, in seventeen hundred and sixty-two, 

A general peace was made at Fontainebleau 

XXXIV. 

Now that the dogs of war had gone to sleep, 
The rats attacked Virginia's crib again : 

The royal rat not long could ever keep 

His nose from nibbling at her golden grain, 

And Botetourt the good slept on the heap ; 
So to the planters now it seemed quite plain 

They must contrive to keep the rats aloof, 

Or stop the holes, or build a crib rat-proof. 

XXXV. 

They chose the latter, — a most difficult thing, 
As every farmer knows who ever tried it. 

Impossible, when the rat's a little king, 

Used to his way, and ne'er before denied it, 

Who seems t' have been created just for boring 
After people's money, till 'tis no use to hide it. 



58 THE LOVES OF 

The famous stamp act was the king's first nibble, 
Which makes a big hole every time you scribble. 

XXXVI. 

The planters said that they would write no more, 
Or only use their pens to stop the holes ; 

Which made the royal rat's nose very sore, 

And made him swear and curse their stingy souls. 

Now his next nibble was, he thought, more sure : 
A tax on tea would open unseen holes ; 

Now, if he'd laid the tax on Holland gin, 

Or Irish whisky, his majesty might have got in. 



XXXVII. 

Not even Jonathan would drink the tea; 

But, when a ship arrived, some Boston boys 
Pitched the whole cargo into the deep sea. 

Then came the Boston port bill, when such a noise 
The people raised, was heard from Maine to Georgy ; 

The North militia into line deploys, 
Fights its first battle at old Lexington, 
And so the famous Revolution was begun. 

XXXVIII. 

Lord Botetourt the good was now no more, 
But a statue of him stands, or lately stood, 

In Williamsburg. No overseer before 

Had such an honor, — there was none so good. 

He was succeeded by one Lord Dunmore, 
The worst perhaps of all the wicked brood ; 

One stanza can't contain his numerous crimes, 

So I'll embalm the rascal in a few more rhymes. 

XXXIX. 

The Indians then great havoc were committing, 
And Dunmore could not be induced to fight them ; 

But in his palace quietly was sitting, 

And by his secret intrigues did incite them, 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 59 

Of England's wrathful king the tool most fitting; 

But forced at length to march, as if to fight them, 
Brave Lewis, with a small force, he decoyed 
Down to Point Pleasant, where he hoped he'd be 
destroyed. 

XL. 

But Lewis, too, was a Virginia hero, 

And gained the famous battle of Point Pleasant; 
Then spiteful Dunmore, cruel as a Nero, 

Gave orders he should join him; thus he meant 
That, on a march of eighty miles, a blow 

From ambushed Indians, aid to whom he lent, 
Might murder Lewis, scatter his brave band, 
And leave the overseer master of the land. 

XLI. 

But Lewis went ahead, destroying the villages 
Of the Shawanese, and was not decoyed 

Into the snare, but to Indian pillages 
Put a fiaal stop ; though much annoyed 

That Dunmore should make peace with hostile savages 
To hurry home, where all his time's employed 

In scheming for the king behind barred doors, 

And seeretlj' removing military stores, 

XLII. 

He moved the powder to the Magdalen ; 

But Patrick, with Hanover boys around him, 
Rushed to the rescue, and took it back again ; 

And when the furious patriots first found him, 
So fearful of the consequence of sin, 

A grinning guard of black baboons surround him. 
By the living God he swore to set them free, 
And burn the town, if he received an injury. 

XLIII. 

The patriots then assembled near and far, 
And so alarmed the cowardly Dunmore, 



60 THE LOVES OF 

He stole off to the Fowey man-of-war, 

And down the river fled to Eastern Shore. 

Thus ends the royal government in Virginia; 
But with Dunmore she had not done ; yet more 

Remains unsung ; for in the East he kept 

A predatory band: his vengeance never slept. 

XLIV. 

One Conelly he sent both North and West, 
To raise an Indian army on the frontier; 

Meantime he laid the Eastern counties waste, 
And was to meet the Indians at Alexandria, 

Proclaim the baboons free, and then — the rest 
'Tis easy to imagine; for Virginia 

Has seen in later days the last act tried 

By Doctor Lincoln,— of which dose she nearly died. 

XLV. 

But in those earlier times, young, single, healthy, 
She kept a sharp lookout, and did not need 

A doctor ; and Conelly, though stealthy, 

Was caught; his agents, taken, owned the deed; 

And, burning Norfolk, then a town quite wealthy, 
Vile Dunmore fled to Florida with speed ; 

And if he fared no worse than I when there, 

He did not get one-half his dues, I swear. 

XL VI. 

Having scared the rats and chased the Indians far, 

Virginia calmly set herself to build, 
Amidst the tempest of surrounding war, 

Her rat-proof corn-crib, which, when well filled, 
Should always have a plenty and to spar, — 

So they pronounce in Mecklenburg : her guild 
Produced a master Mason, who drew the plan, 
But Jefferson, Jack-of-all-trades, the work began. 

xlvii. 
Thus, Jefferson laid down his row of Rights, 
Like pillars 'neath a corn-crib, to support it ; 



JONATHAN AXD VIRGINIA, 61 

And 'twas so neatly done that it delights 

Our modern orators yet to quote it ; 
Still, 'tis the man who stands outside and fights 

For Truth,- and not the man who wrote it, 
Who keeps his corn-crib and his Constitution 
Firm against storms and safe from depredation. 

XLVIII. 

And in those stormy times of revolution 

We had some cunning workmen, brave and strong, 

Who built with statesman's art a Constitution 
That kept the rats and mice out well and long ; 

And. to defend it, men of resolution, 

Well known to History, yet unknown to Song, 

Like Richard Henry Lee and Pendleton. 

Mason, Henry, Randolph, Wythe, and Tom Jefferson. 

XLIX. 

Yet, in public and in private cribs, 'tis true, 
On pillars built of human rights or stone, 

In every State, on every farm, a few, 

With office-ladders, take what's not their own : 

And sometimes do it in your very view. 
But if by your own people this is done, 

Although it cause you sorrow and vexation, 

You pass it by, and say 'tis their vocation. 



A corn-crib once I built and thought it tight: 

There was no hole a little mouse could creep through, 

And then the pillars were of such a height, 

To get up to the door was as much as I could do. 

But when the pile was gone — ah ! what a sight! 
A hundred rats and mice ran to and fro; 

And, pondering much the inevitable evil, 

I thought the corn must breed the vermin, like the 
weevil. 

6 



62 THE LOVES OF 

LI. 

Bnt those were old times, when Virginia, single, 
Kept her own keys and managed her affairs: 

E'en while her ears with sound of cannon tingle, 
There was no stealing, as in later years. 

Now Master Jonathan the keys doth jingle, 
There is no use for corn-cribs, it appears; 

For ere tobacco's cut or corn is gathered, 

The whole crop in his pocket's safely garnered. 

LII. 

Virginia now declared her independence, 
Made laws and regulations of her own, 

Whose justice, wisdom, and good common sense 
Years of prosperity have plainly shown ; 

Organized her forces for her farm's defense, 

Though in the nation's cause their arms were borne, 

And under Patrick, her first overseer, 

Her State has never since been happier or freer. 

LIU. 

Save that the British army threw a cloud 
O'er her fair prospects, advancing from afar; 

And soon the British cannon thundered loud, 
And on her rushed the storm of horrid war. 

Before the blast her form, erect and proud, 
Bent not, but stood as firm as it was fair ; 

And her courageous heart was not afraid 

E'en when Arnold and Tarleton made their famous raid. 

LIV. 

Though Suffolk burn and Charleston City fall, 
And at her very door Cornwallis stand, 

Impending Fate cannot her heart appall : 
The generous Lafayette is at hand, 

Her George is coming, — already within call, — 

Green, Wayne, and Nelson, marching with their 
band, 



JONATHAN AND VTRGINIA. 63 

And Count De Grasse is sailing with his fleet 
Up York, to intercept Cornwallis's retreat. 

LV. 

In Yorktown soon Cornwallis was surrounded, 
And bristling bayonets around him shone: 

Charge after charge his veterans astounded, 
Until his breastworks yielded one by one. 

And soon Virginia's heart with joy bounded 
To hear the news that the great war was done: 

The town of York to our troops was rendered, 

To Washington Cornwallis his sword surrendered. 

lvi. 

Among the first her freedom to declare, 
First to suggest a common declaration : 

Her men go North, the common danger dare, 

While her own frontier bleeds with Indian depreda- 
tion. 

With generous hand she pays more than her share 
Of all the war's expenses: and the high station 

Of chief commander of the American forces 

Given to her brave and glorious George of course is. 

Lvir. 
And thus "currente calamo" I touch 

That famous Revolution — as a thing 
Familiar, known to all, and a too-much- 

Handled theme for a troubadour to sing; 
Though sorely tempted to chronicle such 

Salient points as best might serve to bring 
In bold relief the figure of the maid 
Who in that well-fought drama so grand a part has 
played. 

LViir. 
As after weary nights of pain and woe 

The sun creeps up and shows his cheerful face, 
And lends his radiance to all things below, 

So Peace reclothes with beauty eveiw place 



64 THE LOVES OF 

Whore war's dark desolation reigned before ; 

Her smiles the lifting clouds of war now chase 
From fair Virginia's brow, on which is seen 
The cap of liberty wherewith he crowns her queen 



BOOK IV. 

THE MARRIAGE. 



I. 

" To sit on rocks, to muse o'er flood and fell" — 
Hard sitting that ! and poor amusement, too ! 

But Byron's muse was then upon a swell, 

Careering through the clouds — quite out of view; 

Yet, if of musing you would have a spell, 
Sit a Virginia fence, and take a chew 

Of good tobacco ; then take out your knife 

And on a soft pine shingle whittle for your life. 

JT. 

Oh, then, upon a sunny Sunday morning, 

When there's no work to do that blessed day, 

And Nature seems to be herself adorning 

In Sunday clothes, and smiles so bright and gay, 

And warming up your heart with thoughts so charm- 
in 0" 
You know not which to do — to laugh or pray ; 

Oh, then, I say, you'll shave from that soft shingle 

Countless curling charming thoughts — if you are single. 

in. 

But if you're married — friend ! then muse no more; 

Romance with Liberty has fled forever : 
The Muse, who bowed you in at the church door, 

Just there — I know — her road from yours did sever. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 65 

To sit on fences now would make you sore : 

Bask more in sunshine, chew in peace you'll never; 
No time you'll have for whittling or for musing, 
But weary weeks enough for working and abusing. 

IV. 

For Adam 'twas too good to be alone : 

He was too godlike, free, and independent ; 

He had to lose a, piece of his breast-bone 
To keep him sober, manlike, and dependent. 

In three ways, ever since, the thing is done : 
When Nature grows luxuriant and resplendent, 

When drunk with wine, or love, or poesy divine, 

We must get sober, get married, or the church must 
join. 

v. 

Yet, there's another way : 'tis to make money ; 

For what's the use to bees of earth's sweet flowers 
If they don't hive them up in golden honey? 

For others' use spend all the glowing hours, 
Instead of sipping sweets in weather sunny? 

The " utile" the " dulce" still devours : 
And, lest too near to Eden back they might be carried, 
Jonathan tookto money-making — Virginia got married. 

VI. 

Thus, less than God, but better than the Devil, 
Man vibrates ever between two extremes: 

Peeps into Eden through some midnight revel, 
Yet over hell at noon suspended seems. 

Born for all good, yet suffering every evil, 
He wakes to torture from Eiysian dreams : 

Could make, with 'love, the earth an Eden blest, 

But turns the earth to hell, and seeks in heaven his 
rest. 

VII. 

Virginia was content to live alone, 
Nor did she willingly, at last, resign 
6* 



66 THE LOVES OF 

The independence she had bravely won : 

She had worked out her youthful fond design, — 

Carved out an empire 'neath the Western sun, 
Secured its freedom 'neath her sway benign, 

Fulfilled her boast, and shown the world a nation 

Where every man was king- on his plantation. 

VIII. 

But common danger and success had made 
Virginia and her Northern cousin friends ; 

And so their best and wisest men essayed 
A common Constitution, which extends 

Its jurisdiction over both : 'twas said, 

Without a supreme head, though each intends 

To do his best, should foreign wars arise, 

There was no authority to collect supplies. 

IX. 

This was a league for mutual defense, 

Called Articles of Confederation : 
It had no President, no Court, and hence 

Was not efficient in its operation. 
Discontent arose, and causes of offense, 

And there was no resort for reparation ; 
Taxes were not paid, the laws were disregarded, 
The common debt was heavy, all progress was retarded. 

x. 

Virginia and Jonathan, 'neath such a yoke, 

Like two young oxen, would not pull together ; 

So, after some years' struggling, when it broke, 
Their wise men hunted up a stronger tether. 

And verily the thing they made was no joke, — 
'Twas meant to bind the two in bonds forever: 

'Twas nothing less than marriage, — a strong tie, — 

That binds a man and woman till one of them do 
die. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 67 

XI. 

Now, Jonathan, by courage in the war 
And by financial wisdom — he was great 

On money matters — had concealed the flaw 
In his cold heart; indeed, he was a neat 

And godly man in his exterior; 

But courting's not the fashion with the great: 

So George an.d Edmund make the proposition ; 

Jonathan consents: Virginia makes some opposition. 

XII: 

At first a woman always should say no, 
But now Virginia was not coquetting: 

She had passed through a dreadful war, we know, 
And Jonathan had helped to fight the king. 

Her great men urged it, and she was sure 

Her George would not propose an unwise thing; 

But, as became a queen, with due deliberation, 

She'd do what seemed the best for the whole nation. 

XIII. 
Then to her barn she went, in meditative mood : 

Her wisest hands she found assembled there, 
Who, while they threshed out grain for private food, 

A little time for politics would spare. 
Abstract rights and wrongs, the public good, 

These orators discussed in speeches rare: 
In short, 'twas a debating-society, 
And politics the theme in all variety. 

XIV. 
There stood a man among them, tall and stern ; 

A red cloak enveloped his thin form ; 
With outstretched arm, and with the " words that 
burn," — 
If words can ever truly be called warm, — 
He stirred their hearts, until their cheeks would turn 
Alternate red and pale, and then would charm 



68 THE LOVES OF 

Imagination with his pictures of a State 
Free, independent, glorious, and great. 

xv. 
Virginia heard her Patrick ; and her heart, 

Which once re-echoed, " Liberty or Death !" 
Was shaken by the orator's consummate art. 

"They seek," he said, " to place an orange-wreath 
Upon Virginia : from its leaves will start 

An adder that will sting the queen to death. 
Oh, I beseech Virginia this union not to try! 
For it squints most awfully towards monarchy." 

XVI. 

Thoughtful the maid returned her home towards : 
She trusted Patrick, for she knew him true; 

And inspiration seemed to prompt bis words: 
Beneath his spell, she knew not what to do. 

She loved her liberty, as little birds, 

Though hawks might pounce upon them, well she 
knew ; ' 

And yet she loved her people's safety more, 

Which, George and Edmund said, the Union would 
secure. 

XVII. 

Now on her way she paused, in thought quite lost, 
Her golden garments waving in the wind : 

The trees above tier head green tresses tossed ; 
Like Eve she looked ere our fair mother sinned; 

Like Eve, too, tempted, though onlf at the cost 
Of her own liberty ; for her generous mind 

Looked to the happiness of future ages: 

She listened to no tempter, but consulted sages. 

XVITI. 

Eesolvecl at length, she parted, with a sigh, 

With her Arcadian dreams of single sovereignty ; 

On woods and waving harvests cast her eye, 

Whispering new-born peace and generous plenty; 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. £9 

Thought of her broad domains, — each little colony, 

That stretched from the Atlantic to the Mississippi ; 
And her dear people, — how would they endure 
That she and they should have again one master 
more ? 

XIX. 

"And yet," she thought, "'tis only for defense 
'Gainst foreign foes, and worse internal strife ; 

My friends will have the prudence and good sense 
To save the queen, though she become a wife. 

We'll have a marriage contract, and no pretense 
Of Cousin Jonathan shall peril life, 

Liberty, or property in our State, 

But special powers only we will delegate. 

xx. 

" Within my home I must be free as ever : 
I'll not endure his meddling with my farm ; 

And, though we marry, we will quickly sever 
If he should do my people any harm. 

I'll give him land beyond the Ohio River, 
A royal dowry, — an extensive farm ; 

But let him keep his cattle on the other side, 

Or he will find in me a fierce and restless bride." 

XXI. 

Thus, full of generous thought and self-denial, 

Fond trust in Goodness, and fierce hate of Wrong, 

The maid prepared for that dread clay of trial 
When fragile Beauty's given to the Strong ; 

When one sweet light, that has been blessed by all, 
Merged in a brighter, disappears for long ; 

When freedom, happiness, and hope are cast 

Upon the die of human love — that may not last. 

XXII. 

The contract was drawn up ; but, ere she signed, 
Virginia made a solemn declaration, 



70 THE LOVES OF 

That for the public good she had resigned 

Specific powers to the Federal nation, 
Reserving all the rest; and should she find 

The Union did not answer expectation, 
Or Cousin Jonathan abused his wife, 
She'd take those powers back and lead a single life. 

XXIII. 

But Cousin Jonathan, a cunning fox, 

Said not a word; indeed, full well he knew, 

Could he get in his- tail, no paper locks 

Could keep his body all from going through. 

And as for declarations, they were not the " vox 
Populi, vox Dei," which alone was true: 

This was indeed Virginia's Resolution ; 

But Jonathan can't see it in the Constitution. 

XXIV. 

And so they married ; though such a pair 

Were surely never formed to meet by nature : 

She graceful, well developed, wondrous fair; 
He awkward, lean, and very tall of stature ; 

She with her stately step and queenly air, 

While Love and Genius lighted every feature ; 

He cold and calculating, whose impassive face 

Proclaimed that for the Purse alone he ran the race. 

XXV. 

'Tis well the future's hidden from our view ; 

And so they made a merry wedding of it, 
Kissed, feasted, frolicked, danced the whole night 
through ; 

And George, the hero, danced a minuet, 
And little Jamie, in his shorts and queue, 

Got almost tipsy for the hand he had in it, 
While two friends of Jonathan, Hamilton aud Jay, 
On Federal pipes rare music piped away. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. >\\ 

XXVI. 

Indeed, it was the nation's jubilee : 

"The Union and the Constitution!" was the cry ; 
Virginia and Massachusetts in high glee 

Clasped hands, while Jonathan stood by 
And in his pocket felt the golden key 

Virginia gave, and which he longed to try 
On barns and granaries full as Plenty's horn 
Of cotton, rice, tobacco, sugar, wheat, and corn. 

XXVII. 

'Gainst princes marrying many wives, no law 

Existed in his sanctimonious nation ; 
Thence went the emigrants that peopled Utah, 

And Jonathan was great on annexation. 
So Seventeen-eighty-seven to ninety saw 

Seven sisters more assume the sweet relation — 
Amongst them Georgy and two Carolines ; 
Though my impression is that these were concubines. 

XXVIII. 

Now, nothing serves so well to show the tact, 
The energy, the enterprise and wondrous art 

Of Jonathan, as this single fact; 

For near one hundred years he kept apart 

These fiery dames in peace ; and, in the act 
Of daily robbing them, he was so smart 

That all seemed done according to their law : 

Twas the best-governed family the world e'er saw. 



!T 



XXIX. 

Virginia had as happy a honeymoon 
As e'er was given to a queen and wife, 

And longer ; for it lasted many a moon, 
And ended only with great George's life ; 

Then on the heels of Grief there followed soon 
The creeping, stealthy serpent, Party Strife, 



72 THE LOVES OF 

That Patrick saw with his far-seeing eye, 

And G-eorge had deprecated when he said good-by. 

XXX. 

But yet she saw it not ; this monster dire 
Warns not its victim till securely bound. 

Like a good wife at home by household fire, 
Or early on her farm, she might be found, 

Or like a queen, in elegant attire, 

Dispensing hospitality to all around ; 

Too happy was she in her peaceful home 

To hear the distant muttering of the thunder-storm. 

XXXT. 

Meantime, her sons in luxury and ease 
Were bred to medicine, divinity, and law; 

While Northern boys are making bread and cheese 
They frolic, fiddle, fox-hunt, paint, and draw, 

And in the parlor pretty women please, 
About the future caring not a straw : 

Wild, graceful, chivalrous in their happy youth, 

They vet, when men, become the statesmen of the 
"South. 

XXXII. 

To make, to mend, to black their boots they could not 
To cut a coat they did not understand ; 

To make a wooden nutmeg they would not ; 
Nor did they relish plowing their own land ; 

They spent their fathers' money as they should not, 
But often gave it with a liberal hand ; 

And if one e'er was taxed with what he spent, 

Replied, he meant some day to be the President. 

XXXIII. 

Now, Jonathan made clocks, and nutmegs too, 
Made money by them, and he saved the tin ; 

Could make a coat, a hat, a boot or shoe, 
And, if his leather failed, put paper in 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 73 

So cleverly, the fraud you never knew; 

But, if it paid, lie thought it not a sin ; 
And, if St. Paul stood by and saw, I doubt 
If Jouathan would have taken the paper out. 

XXXIV. 

He was a man of wonderful resources : #* 

His land was poor, and yet he made good crops, 

Built mills on all the little water-courses, 

Supplied all young America with balls and tops, 

Books, slates, and slate-pencils by the grosses ; 
And soon he had ten hundred thousand shops 

For buttons, needles, pins, and paper collars, 

And all the various little ware that brought big dollars. 

XXXV. 

Yet not by little things alone he gained: 
He was a man of most capacious mind ; 

To power great and wealth he has attained, 
In commerce left the older States behind, 

The fertile West to his great cities chained 
By railroads and canals, and, we shall find, 

Has built his factories at the South's expense, 

His patriotic Tariff being the pretense. 

xxxyi. 

Yes, Jonathan deserves the name of Smart, 
And might be wealthy without working ill; 

His name the synonym of inventive art, 
His countless models the Patent Office fill; 

Car, carriage, coach, curricle, and cart, 

Preserves and pickles, powder, paste, and pill, 

Machines of every kind, deluge the land 

And show the wondrous skill of his prolific hand. 

XXXVII. 

"While with one hand he winds the earth around 
With his mysterious telegraphic wire, 
T 



74 THE LOVES OE 

That makes the eye the novel sense of sound, 
He with the other gives — no tuneful lyre, 

But that which our grandmothers would astound, 
'Yond which invention scarcely can aspire, — 

A cunning instrument, — 'tis strange, but true, — 

That gives to sewing woman twenty hands for two. 

XXXVIII. 

I will not slander Jonathan, but grant he 

Had his orators and his poets too. 
Degenerate Italy had Petrarch and Dante, 

And Rome the tyrant, Virgil and Cicero ; 
And we must credit the avaricious Yankee 

With witty Willis and that sad Longfellow, 
And orators who once have made a stir, 
Like polished Everett and weighty Webster. 

XXXIX. 

In truth, he has a most inquiring mind: 
He reads and writes, and visits every land; 

Go where you will, you will be sure to find 
This quizzing gentleman : on Afric's sand, 

Planning canals, or, to see the latest kind 
Of gun, upon the battle-field he'll stand ; 

In China now, now in Siberia, 

Projecting a railroad from Irkutsk to Chetah, 

XL. « 

Now, what to think of such a restless creature, 
Rushing o'er the land, diving in the sea, 

Burrowing in mines, exploring nature, 

Excelling sound and light in their velocity, 

Changing the natural use of every feature, 

Who hears with eyes, and with the ear can see, 

And multiplies our hands from two to twenty, 

I know not; but godlike or devilish he must be, — . 

XLI. 

I leave the candid reader to say which. 

Some say that God undoubtedly commands 



JOS ATE AN AND VIRGINIA. ?5 

To persecute the Quaker and to burn the witch ; 

To take from wealthy men their surplus lands, 
That discontented tenants may be rich ; 

To sell your slave, and starve your whiter hands, 
Then turn upon the purchaser with hate 
And with the bayonet make him emancipate. 

XLTI. 

These things did Jonathan; but if the Devil 
Quotes Scripture for his purposes, I fear 

The practice leads to much and serious evil ; 
And when by doing so you gather gear, 

To give the act its name would not be civil. 
Fanatic zeal is not true godly fear, 

And neither cruelty nor cant doth please us, 

As I am sure it pleases not the gentle Jesus. 

XLIII. 

But, be that as it may, the thrifty groom 
Did much to make the Union a success ; 

He had at first abundant elbow-room, 
And needed not his women to oppress; 

But gave them now and then a brand-new broom 
To sweep the kitchen clean, and a caress 

Sometimes ; but to the South he rarely went, 

Except to sell a patent or get a President. 

XLIV. 

I do not know the reason, but they say 

There were two things of which he had a horror : 

One was the reckless and the savage way 

We handled knives and pistols; the other terror, 

The black baboon with which our children play ; 
At least, they did; but you may see to-morrow 

A hundred of them in an empty barn, 

Where, having no tobacco, they are trying to lam. 

XLV. 

The black baboon was Afric's sable son, 

Brought by the Dutch in sixteen hundred and twenty ; 



76 THE LOVES OF 

And what the Dutchmen did was also done 
By Spain and England, till we had a plenty. 

Nor would the pious Yankee be outdone 
In wickedness, for, on trade so bent he, 

A pious man of Boston, Smith his name, 

To Massachusetts with a sable cargo came. 

XLVI. 

Now, curly Cuffie (such the baboon's name) 
Was born and blackened 'neath a burning" sun, 

Longed for the lands like those from whence he came, 
And in the Northern snows could see no fun. 

He did not pay: so Jonathan, in shame 
For a bad bargain, then began to run 

The baboon off, or sell him for more gain, 

And then, to spite the master, runs him back again. 

XLVII. 

Beneath our genial sun the baboon multiplied : 
No rabbit was so wonderful a breeder ; 

Quite scanty clothes for him full warmth supplied ; 
Nor was he ever a voracious feeder: 

With hog and hominy, sitting astride 

A bench without a back, he did not need a 

Chair or table, cup or saucer, knife or fork ; 

Ate with sharp teeth in silence, then grinned and went 
to work. 

XL VIII. 

Still, true to nature and his habits wild, 

Poor Cuff had starved had he been left alone : 

In prudent providence was but a child, 
And did no work unless you saw it done ; 

Yet so obedient, affectionate, and mild, 

His master's interest ever seemed his own: 

A better body-servant ne'er was known, 

If you carried in your pocket a bottle of cologne. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 77 

XLIX. 
Then what a gift to sunny Southern fields 

Those long, strong arms, that could a bale embrace ! 
To him the world in picking cotton yields ; 

The sun brings only smiles to his black face, 
While planters wipe the brow the broad palm shields; 

With hilling-hoe few equal his quick pace, 
And his long fingers pick the worm that feeds 
On the tobacco, and then he bites off their heads. 

L. 

Virginia viewed the baboon with some dread 
When first it landed from the Dutchmen's ships, 

With its black skin, thick lips, and woolly head, 
Fore-legs, like arms, that hung below its hips; 

But when she found the female made good bread, 
And saw a gentle smile part her thick lips, 

And heard her siug, she did not think her charming, 

But then she thought the savage not at all alarming. 

LI. 

Then, by degrees, she got quite used to Cuff, 
So called from getting kicks more than caresses ; 

She clothed its awkward form in modern stuff, 
More decent than its Senegambian dresses ; 

And though it was and still is somewhat rough, 
She let the little females comb her tresses, 

Who soon grew up to skillful ladies'-maids, 

Cooks, washerwomen, nurses, and other household aids. 

LII. 

The baby's nurse ! What ! let a baboon nurse 

My darling, tiny, tender little child? 
Yes, madam, and a Roman king had worse: 

'Tis true he did grow up a little wild, 
And shepherds and their flocks did oft disperse ; 

But baboons are not wolves: their milk is mild; 
And Gulliver was not handled with more care 
Than I was nursed for years by my old Nelly dear. 

7* 



78 THE LOVES OF 

Lin. 

The baboon soon "Virginia's pet became, 

In spite of color, ugly nose and lip, 
Improved in many arts as he grew tame, 

A gardener, hostler, and a famous whip, 
Played with the children many a jolly game, 

Talked quite as well as Rudge's raven Grip, 
And some became, in time, quite apes of ton, 
Like Wickham's Robin and Chief- Justice Marshall's 
John. 

LIV. 

He was indeed a blessing: now a curse ; 

A faithful slave : but now a savage master ; 
Did pick and steal a little : steals now much worse; 

Grew fat and sleek quite fast : now lean much faster ; 
Filled then our cribs and barns: now bleeds our purse; 

A soothing friend turned to a mustard plaster. 
Oh, Cuffie! once so happy, so devoted, 
Oh, what a wretched rogue thou art since thou hast 
voted! 

LV. 

Virginia with her marriage was contented, 
And hailed the Union as kind Heaven's boon; 

For Jonathan as yet had not invented 
The patent for whitewashing the baboon. 

Nor of the match would she have e'er repented 
Had she not feared the patent would come soon ; 

For she. saw him try his brush on all that came 

Across the bounding river — Beautiful by uame. 

LVI. 

All great inventions take, however, time 

And many trials ere they operate ; 
And so for this, which really was sublime, 

Our cousin found his means were not so great; 
Besides, he did not wish to spend a dime, 

And then he saw his wives became irate. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. *\§ 

At length, by various cogitations tossed, 

With devilish glee he said, " They'll do it at their cost." 

LVII. 

The Devil helps his own, so it turns out; 

But Jonathan worked hard to gain his end. 
Cruelty to animals he talks about; 

Vile prints of Slavery abroad he'll send ; 
At Faneuil Hall of liberty he'll spout; 

To help each ape escape, his boat he'll lend ; 
And when Virginia goes to claim her Cuff, 
He acts the hypocrite, or gives reception rough. 

LVIII. 

Poets and orators take up the cry ; 

Historians, editors, and Northern teachers 
The public poison with a printed lie ; 

The baboon fever seizes e'en the preachers ; 
Black Sarah from the pulpit heaves a sigh, 

White women give their jewels to the Beechers, 
And she who blackens now a poet's reputation 
Then painted white the sable monkey nation. 

LIX. 

Faneuil Hall and Exeter shake hands; 

And he who lately with Virginia fought 
Against the common tyrant of all lands, 

In this fanatic war that ally sought 
To force his wives obey his mean commands 

And give away what he both sold and bought. 
Yes, English men and women lent their aid 
To help the Yankee in this vile crusade. 

LX. 

Then envy, malice, and fanatic zeal 

Combined to set the public mind on fire, 

To lay a train that, for the common weal, 
Would shatter States with its explosion dire, 



80 THE LOVES OF 

And cause the temple our fathers built to reel ; 

Such the results of Jonathan's mad ire ! 
And all because it nearly made him swoon 
To see his wives waited on by an African baboon. 

LXI. 

He blacked his boots : a baboon burnished theirs ; 

He dressed himself: his wives were dressed by 
Hose ; 
He made new plows: Cuff used for them his shares ; 

He wove his cloth : black Sally made their clothes; 
He worked at home : but Cuff no labor spares, 

While forth his mistress walks to see the shows. 
Oh, Lord ! the princely airs my wives put on, 
While at their backs runs grinning the happy black 
baboon ! 

LXII. 

'Twas a small thing, — yet every woman knows 
How small a thing will irritate her spouse; 

E'en the slight curl of her aristocratic nose 
Will shake the Union with infernal rows. 

If he wear jeans, while she in satin goes, 

Or takes her pleasure, while he milks the cows, 

She may look out, when she comes home to supper, 

For sour looks at least, if he, indeed, don't whip her. 

LXIII. 

Small things, if you keep looking at them, grow, 
And so it was in Jonathan's green eyes ; 

The baboon made at first a sorry show, — 

'Twas a small cloud along the Southern skies, — 

But Jonathan and Harriet Beecher Stowe 
Kept peering at it, till, like microscopic flies, 

It loomed up a gigantic human slave, 

That all the Christian world must take up arms to save. 

LXIV. 

Thus to the world he justified the hate 

Towards his wives he now began to nurse ; 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 81 

And soon his wrath and envy grew so great — 
A Northern author makes the story worse — 

That once, collecting taxes from his mate, 
To Caroline he came to fill his purse ; 

When, counting Pollok's fifteen thousand blacks, 

He fainted with disgust, and left without the tax. 



BOOK V. 

THE DIVORCE. 



On broad Potomac's bank are ten miles square 

That Mary and Virginia gave away; 
And Jonathan has built a palace there 

He calls the White House. Why? I cannot say: 
To Afric's sable race 'tis scarcely fair 

To name the public buildings in this partial way; 
But if he has the luck in next election, 
Cuffie may change the name and make his own selection. 

ii. 

Head-Overseer Grant cloth dwell there now, 
Walks the broad portico and smokes cigars; 

And, if the cares of state e'er cloud his brow, 
He smiles them off while thinking of his wars, 

Or looking to the future, scheming how 
He may contrive, without e'en family jars, 

To add a jet-black pendant to his nose 

Large as the island of the sable St. Domingos. 

in. 

Hard by the overseer's house there stands 
The largest corn-crib of the United States, 



82 THE LOVES OF 

The common granary of many lands ; 

And here, by day and night, there congregates 
A hungry crowd of rats, who singly and in bands 

Are seen to enter through the open gates: 
These are the victors to whom the spoils belong, 
And you will note the fact that all their tails are long, 

IV. 

All the rats of the American nation 

Had once long tails ; but overseer the third 

Invented w T hat we call decapitation. 

He seized the rats that bit him by the beard, 

And cut their tails off, which is decaudation ; 
And ever since, at least so I have heard, 

All friendly rats the overseer pets them, 

Allows their tails to grow, and into his corn-crib lets 
them. 



Some distance off, a splendid kennel stands : 
'Twas thought impolitic to build it near ; 

For, though the broad Potomac it commands, 
You cannot see from thence the crib quite clear. 

The bark of terriers from thirty different lands 
Would else drive off the rats in mortal fear; 

And so sometimes they were by a rat-catcher 

Like the famous red terrier, honest John Letcher. 



VI. 

In olden times from all the various States 
To guard the crib these terriers were sent ; 

And some were stationed at the very gates, 
To see that none into the granary went. 

But dogs, like rats, are tempted by sweet baits ; 
And while upon the rats they were intent, 

They nibbled at the corn, then liked the sin, 

Then pell-mell with the rats the rascals rushed right in. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 83 

VII. 

Yet some were honest, honest dogs at heart, 

And some stole not because they could not steal ; 

Not that it did require any canine art, 
But the head-overseer must know or feel 

Quite sure they were his dogs ; then, if they were smart, 
They'd slip through any hole, like snake or eel; 

Now they are known by the color of their skin : 

Dogs that are white stay out, black dogs go freely in. 

VIII. 

Such being the case, 'tis not at all surprising 
All eyes upon that spot were soon directed: 

The lazy rats at home became now enterprising; 
Each terrier puppy bad his ears erected : 

The distant smell of pap was appetizing : 

E'en rats without their tails oft ne'er reflected, 

Away they went, by every chance they got, 

To dip their tails and paws in Uncle Sam's big pot. 

IX. 

This was indeed the centre of attraction, — 
This pot, which, like the caldron of a witch, 

Sent up those fumes that drive into distraction. 

There stood the overseer, with his wand or switch, 

That seemed to have a wondrous power of traction 
To draw the dogs and rats ; and then he'd hitch 

The well-fed team to his triumphal car, 

And drive them into office at the end of his fourth year. 

x. 
Here Jonathan, the ever-thoughtful man, 

Saw the " cohesive power of public plunder ;" 
So straight to form a party he began, 

Contrive a flag the party must fight under, 
And build his 'platform; by this patent plan 

He knew he must succeed without a blunder; 
For if that party once got into power, 
His wives were at his mercy from that fatal hour. 



84 THE LOVES OF 

XI. 

In Boston and in Buffalo he found 

Abundant elements for a beginning-; 
And history with examples doth abound 

Of rapid progress in the art of sinning. 
Petitions, signed by numbers which astound, 

For Abolition soon were daily winning 
Their snake-like way into the very kennel, 
And woke the terriers up with many a bark and yell. 

XII. 

The snake was long, the snake was very black : 
The terriers bristled, but they came not nigh : " 

By distant barks some made a fierce attack ; 

But few to put it out were brave enough to try, 

Till Adams, or some other of the Northern pack, 
A hole convenient in the wall did spy, 

Snug into which the monster then did creep, 

And there for many winters coiled itself to sleep. 

XIII. 

The black snake was a failure, it is true, 
But showed the party was already strong ; 

'Twas evident the black flag would not do, 
And Abolition was a plank not strong ; 

Most clearly 'gainst the Constitution too, 

Though that is nothing; and so we see ere long 

On free-soil planks liepublicans stand voting, 

While o'er their heads the Union flag is floating. 

XIV. 

"A rose by any other name will smell 

As sweet ;" but the reverse is not so true: 

For things as wide apart as Heaven and Hell 
By the same name our politicians knew. 

The name Republican applied full well 
To statesmen of the anti-Federal hue; 

But now the Federalist again comes back 

And calls himself Republican, — fashionably Black. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 85 

XV. 

Indeed, with names sad havoc we have made : 
The Whig, opposed to arbitrary power, 

Was driven as a Federal to the shade ; 

The Democrat who ruled in that same hour 

A stern old tyrant was, and war his trade. 
Aristocrats the people soon devour ; 

And Radicals, alone to name still true, 

Have rooted up the Constitution through and through. 

XVI. 

Now, with his new machinery, the inventor bold 
Turns out his freedom-shriekers by the thousand ; 

They multiplied as fast as did of old, 

By striped sticks, 'cute Jacob's speckled cows and 

Other cattle ; to every peaceful fold 

He sends these bellowing bulls to browse and 

liaise such a rumpus on each Western farm, 

That all the apes fly thence in wild alarm. 

XVII. 

Within the district of the kennel, too, 

They roared and bellowed, till the Northern dogs 
Beiran to bark and howl and make so great ado, 

The fearful noise frightened e'en the frogs 
That basked upon the banks of the Yazoo ; 

And then from saucy Caroline's green bogs 
Came back the croak, — Secession ! secession ! 
And all the Congress-terriers were black and white 
that session. 

XVIII. 

Then in the kennel centred all the fight : 

White and black terriers into each other pitch ; 

And Jonathan is sure that all is right, 

And smiles in joy when Brooks and Sumner hitch, 

And, though his dog comes out in bloody plight, 
Nobody's hurt, except the son of a bitch 



86 THE LOVES OF 

Who shed his blood, first martyr to the cause, 
And had his head improved for reconstruction laws. 

XIX. 

Meantime, at home Virginia calmly sitting, 
Thoughtful, but not excited by the din, 

Intent upon domestic work, or knitting 

Her brows, perhaps, or socks it may have been, 

Deemed not the baboon cause of war quite fitting ; 
Though Jonathan she thought committed sin, 

Tearing thus their contract into tatters, 

And interfering thus in her domestic matters. 

xx. 

'Tis ever thus with noble, patient woman, 
Forgiving oft the wrongs their husbands do ; 

But when a wife is treated like a foeman, 

And she a queen whom once he dared to w r oo, 

And violence is threatened, then no man 

Can blame her if she break her fetters through : 

Call it secession, rebellion, or divorce, 

Than bonds eternal with a tyrant nothing's worse. 

xxi. 

And violence soon came, — the natural effect 
Of the vile seed that Jonathan had sown, 

The crop he'd prayed for and striven to perfect. 
The infant born at Boston, now full grown, 

The first apostle to baboons elect, 

Was ready to his hand ; and old John Brown 

With pikes came down, Virginia's apes to free : 

Virginia had him hung upon a sour- apple-tree. 

XXII. 

The blood of martyrs is the church's seed, 

And Brown has raised a mighty congregation ; 

But in the Bible I find not their creed, 
Unless " by violence" to gaiu salvation, 

And get to heaven with the utmost speed 

From limbs of trees, in their apostle's fashion. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 81 

E'en Brigham's Bible, which allows him wives, 
Permits him not to take away their precious lives. 

XXIII. 

Some things, I think, are e'en than murder worse : 
To wed a wife when she's a rich young belle, 

To worry her until she seeks divorce, 
To beat her then because she did rebel, 

To make her very riches then her curse, 
To drive her from her palaces to dwell 

With her own servants, who are taught to hate her; 

If these are not great crimes, I know not any greater. 

XXIV. 

And yet to the belief I am inclined, 

So dread the circumstances that surround, 

If possible a greater evil was designed ; 

And, though the whisper of it will astound, 

I'll speak the thought of every Southern mind: 
His wives disarmed, and then securely bound, 

With folded arms cool Jonathan might wait 

To see which race the other would exterminate. 

XXV. 

Whatever his designs now matters not; 

His party prospered, and he had good luck ; 
For just as things were getting pretty hot, 

The term expired of Overseer Buck. 
So long had Democrats fed from his pot, 

So strong and savory the omcial truck, 
Democracy was nothing but a pampered nag, 
And in the coming race was almost sure to flag 



.-> ■ 



XXVI. 

And so she did, although upon her back 
The " Little Giant" of Illinois rode ; 

Not like long Lincoln on his bony black, 
But as upon an elephant a toad. 



83 THE LOVES OF 

And, though he had of course the inside track, 

And used with vigor the official goad, 
She, the white horse, and white with a black spot, 
Were beaten by the black horse, and Lincoln took the 
pot. 

xxvn. 

The horse the lady's champion rode was white ; 

And had those been the days of chivalry, 
His gallant rider would have won the fight ; 

But then disunion was a bad war-cry, 
And politicians do not ask what's right, 

But on the corn-crib fix their greedy, eye : 
Too many Whigs were eager to get in, 
And Democrats to stay where they so long had been. 

XXVIII. 

JSTone took the disappointment so to heart 
As Caroline the younger, who had vowed 

If Lincoln won the race that she would part 
With Jonathan forever; for her proud 

And candid spirit never learned the art 

Of politic submission ; and, though her shroud 

Were in the Yankee loom, the battle-field 

Should see her wear it ere her honor she would yield. 

XXIX. 

A son of hers — his name was Johnny C, 
Had a remarkably long head, they say, 

And a long foresight too, for he could see 
From 1830 to the present day — 

Foretold his ma would lose her liberty, 
And like a prophet pointed out the way ; 

And so he ever cried, "Resist! resist! 

Whenever Federal Jonathan even shakes his fist." 

XXX. 

Though many thought that wondrous man was mad, 
His mother heard true genius in his talk; 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 89 

And so she says, " Now, isn't it too bad ? 

J. shakes his fist and says I sha'n't e'en walk 
Upon my Western farm unless my apes are clad 

In skin and garments white as Albion's chalk ! 
And now he's got the navy and the army ! 
Oh, what a fool I was to marry him ! Ah me !" 

XXXI. 

And so oft thinks and sighs the hapless she 
Who marries in her youth without the love 

That lightens labor and the loss of liberty; 
And when the hawk has mated with the dove, 

What else expect but ruffled plumes to see ? 
But e'en the dove will a fierce falcon prove 

If you invade her nest; and though she sighed 

At first, brave Caroline resumed her stately pride. 

XXXII. 

"And was it, then, for this," she fiercely cried, 
" A bloody war together we have fought ? 

Was it for this my sons have nobly died, 

And with their blood my independence bought? 

Was it for this that I became a bride, 

And to that man a princely dower brought, 

That he might use the very gifts I gave 

To make me his weak minion and his humble slave? 

XXXIII. 

"He calls himself Republican in vain: 

An Abolitionist in thin disguise ; 
To all the world his purpose is quite plain. 

As once the French and Indians did, he tries 
Both North and West to form a tightening chain 

Around us : free States for forts ; for war — lies ; 
For a fair field — Congressional debate; 
For Indians — John Brown; and for mauly courage — 
hate. 

8* 



90 THE LOVES OF 

XXXIV. 

"Thus clasped within tliis fiendish arm • 

Thus constitutionally thrown around us, 

Which does not mean to do us any harm 
Until, like victims, it has surely bound us, 

Should we, like willful children, grow too warm, 
And struggle to escape the pins that wound us, 

Lie still, thou rebel ! will the master cry ; 

Submit to my commands, or thou shalt surely die. 

XXXV. 

" And what are his commands? That we lie still 
And witness all his cunning machinations, 

Till he our Western territory fill 

With English, Irish, Scotch, and German nations, 

Till all the terriers in his Congress kennel 
Are changed to black by his manipulations ; 

Then from his patient wives at royal pleasure 

He'll draw by cruel torture all their richest treasure. 

XXXVI. 

" This man, to whom we gave our sword and purse 
For our defense against a foreign foe, 

Combines all nations with his scum, much worse, — 
Whose growth for our destruction was too slow,— 

To bask upon our borders, howl and curse 
Whene'er a baboon crosses the Ohio, 

Till, roused to frenzy by his flag of black, 

They'll rush like bulls upon us with a fell attack. 

XXXVII. 

" Now, now's the time, brave sons of Caroline ! 

Take by the horns the bull while he is still ; 
Shoulder your muskets, spring into the line, 

Eke out your numbers by indomitable will ! 
While in the distance low the Lincoln kine, 

Ami creeps their driver up the Federal hill, 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 91 

Disguised in a Scotch cap and cloak, attack ! 
And let him hear your thunder from Sumter rolling 
back !" 

XXXVIII. 

Thus spoke the Southern dame, as, full of ire, 

She thought upon the wrongs that she had borne ; 

Her French blood set her Southern heart on fire : 
The Union flag, from all her buildings torn, 

Trailed in the dust ; and round her son and sire 
Thronged to defend with arms her stately throne, 

Then on Fort Sumter rushed with all their might, 

Which Anderson surrendered after a gallant fight. 

XXXIX. 

'Twas a rash act; and yet it was sublime: 

Thus single and alone against the Federal host, 

Like brave Leonidas of olden time, 

Whose little Spartan band were surely lost 

Against the Persian millions ; though no crime 
In her it would have been to count the cost, 

As with the Spartan 'twas to leave the field 

Or home before the foe return, save on his shield. 

XL. 

'Gainst tyranny and fraud and wrong she rose ; 

And who shall blame her ? Not the worthy son 
Whose sire England struck those daring blows 

And fought the battle of old Lexington, 
Who counted not the number of his foes, 

Who starved at Valley Forge with Washington, 
And "fortune, life, and sacred honor" thr%w 
Into his country's cause, though a hopeless sword he 
drew. 

XLI. 

Now, what was he? A subject of the king, 
'Gainst whom he drew indeed a rebel's sword. 

And what was she ? A queen, — no meaner tiling, — 
A sovereign queen, in spite of Lincoln's word, 



92 THE LOVES OF 

Who called her countess; he perhaps was joking, 

Although he thought and said, I am assured, 
When Caroline's misconduct was in debate, 
" There was no difference between a country and a 
State." 

XLII. 

With Jonathan King George was rather rough, 
But Jonathan was rougher with his wives ; 

The taxes in his time were pretty tough, 
But he sent no ruffians to take. our lives. 

The king was grasping, overbearing, gruff, 
But he was no usurper, with his gyves 

And manacles prepared for half a nation : 

He only wished us to submit to his taxation. 

XLIII. 

King George, I reckon, did not care a damn 

Who blacked our boots or picked our fields of cotton, 

And Jonathan might drink his whisky dram, 
Or wine, or gin, or brandy, tea, or croton, 

So he paid for drinks ; and the sons of Ham, — 
George never dreamed of the black rascals voting ; 

He'd send us more of them if we saw cause, 

But, oh ! how he would laugh to see them making laws ! 

XLIV. 

His regulations crippled our trade : 

No trade to cripple Jonathan would leave ; 

He quartered soldiers on us, it is said, 

In time of peace, — white soldiers, I believe, — 

But not the^evils of the John Brown raid : 
And other things he did to vex and grieve : 

But never sought to ruin slave and master 

And overwhelm whole States in fathomless disaster. 

XLV. 

Then Jonathan rebelled 'gainst George the Third 
For what he deemed indeed sufficient cause ; 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 93 

Now, Caroline, a queen, has drawn the sword, 
Not as a rebel, but to defend the laws, — 

Laws guarding rights she, as a queen, reserved; 
And well might the head-overseer pause 

Ere vet he used the purse and sword she gave 

To make his own proud mistress his poor, humble slave. 

XLVI. 

But Lincoln sat at Jonathan's ''machine," 
And said he was in duty bound to " run it," 

Let who will come its crushing wheels between : 
He warned " the world and all the rest" to shun it, 

Called for his men, and said it should be seen, 
Since Madam Caroline had thus begun it, 

Whether the instrument, warranted to crush, 

In sixty days, rebellion, was worth a rush. 

XLVII. 

While thus this blundering man of vulgar jokes 
Set wheels in motion which must rend asunder, 

By revolution dire, hub, tire, and spokes, 
Jonathan prepared to stand from under, 

And pick up fragments fit to make the yokes 

For all his wives that made the same sad blunder: 

Virginia called her wisest men together, 

Who haply by pacific means the storm might weather. 

XLVIII. 

Oh, had there then been at the helm of state 

A man who understood the noble art 
Of statesmanship, like Henry Clay the great, 

Or him who, though a hero, played the part 
Of sage, how different would have been our fate ! 

But he whom Jonathan put there to start 
The great machine was but a patent-agent, 
To show the world how it would grind, dead bent. 

XLIX. 

Virginia sent her deputies in haste, 
To stop the revolution till the wise 



94 THE LOVES OF 

Might intervene; but words of peace they waste 
On the head-overseer : " No compromise 

With rebels armed ! he at the helm was placed 
To execute the laws; and who denies 

The law 's defied. A cob, indeed, might choke 

The wheels just then ; but grind he would till some- 
thing broke." 



And so he tried to turn with his long arm 
That wonderful machine, as if by force 

'Twas made to work, like the sheller on his farm. 
'Twould not revolve: each effort made it worse : 

Nor he nor Jonathan had learned the charm 

Of its smooth motion. Then he thought, of course, 

It wanted grease, and so for grease he cried ; 

But Jonathan with all the oil of love his fish had 
fried. 

LI. 

For oiled thus this exquisite machine 
By Washington was started; and it ran 

By touch of finger from morn till e'en, 

While loving subjects kept a well-filled can ; 

Thus thirty wheels a larger wheel within 
Had moved harmoniously since they began 

A century ago, and needed no repair, 

Though wound up sometimes by a stupid overseer. 

lii. 

But Jonathan had many fish to fry; 

And yet the oil still held out well enough 
Till he began his meddling hand to try 

On savory dishes for poor simple Cuff, 
Who was content with hog and hominy. 

His wives, who did the cooking, soon got gruff, — 
Cooks, interfered with, will get crusty, — 
The oil, too, got scarce, and the bright wheels got 
rusty. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 95 

mn. 

So now at the first pull that Lincoln made 

He wrenched the axle of wheel Caroline awry; 

And, had he been a master at his trade, 

He would have paused and found the reason why 

Things would not work, and then with skill essayed 
To place the wheel aright, and then might try 

To coax more oil from those frowning wives, 

Who, bless them ! never could stay angry all their 
lives. 

L1V. 

How often have our wisest statesmen told us 

The love of the Republic is its life ! 
In its embrace no galling chains can hold us, 

Save in the torture of perpetual strife ! 
And though the husband's iron arms enfold us, 

And cruel laws may call us legal wife, 
And though we show the world a smiling face, 
We yet may pray that death dissolve the foul em- 
brace. 

LV. 

Still, Lincoln, obstinate, did "peg away," 
And Jonathan stood by, with nod and wink; 

Wheel after wheel with fearful crash gave way. 
He persevered, but knew not what to think 

When the Virginia wheel, to his dismay, 
Rolled out, and, pausing on the brink, 

Rolled down the Federal hill, losing a felloe ; 

Nine others followed close. Then Lincoln cried out, 
11 Halloo I" 

LVI. 

And well he might, for his machine w 7 as broke 
Past all repair ; and, to his great surprise, — 

He was too much astonished even to joke, — 
He saw the flying wheels unite and then arise 

Upon the Southern plain, 'midst Southern folk, 
Who made the welkin ring with joyful cries, — 



96 THE LOVES OF 

A new machine, as if it were by magic, 

So like his own it looked 1 and it was done so quick! 

LV1I. 

"Now, here's a quandary!" at length he said. 

"I am the head ; bat half the body's gone ! 
And what's a man when his best wives have fled ? 

To bring them back 's the next thing to be done ; 
And I'll not sleep upon a feather bed 

Till they return; I'll send old Scott, the son 
Of Old Virginia, hero of Lundy's Lane : 
With his big hand he'll grasp and bring them back 
again. 

LVITI. 

But Jonathan's mad wives had fled afar, 

And much he feared that they were gone forever: 

One Helen was recovered by a war ; 

But what a fight these ten would make together! 

Scott with Achilles was not on a par, 

And they had Hectors he would fain not tether ; 

Yet money, men, and ships were on his side, 

And he should fight for ten, if Greek could fight for 
one bride. 

LIX. 

The wives in council met, and, strange to say, 

Voted unanimously for divorce ; 
And, though they had but little cash to pay, 

They feed a lawyer heavily, of course, 
With promissory notes, who, on a given day, 

In old Judge Battles' court with all his force 
Should plead their cause and for divorce should sue ; 
Lincoln for Jonathan appeared: Jeff. Davis p. q. 

LX. 

Now, old Judge Battles — he was very old : 
Much older than Methuselah, I think — 

No knotty case had tried, so I am told, 
Since Jonathan refused to pay for drink 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA, 97 

And King George sued him, — George the bold 

Vs. Jonathan ; then some saw him wink 
At many flaws in Jonathan's proceedings 
And rule quite out of court the king's best pleadings. 

LXI. 

That Jonathan was his favorite there's no doubt; 

For Battles' favorite maxim long has been, 
The Northern mission ever is to clean out 

The Southern hive, and Northern swarms rush in ; 
Barbarians put the civilized to rout, 

As autumn must be swept by winter keen ; 
So Greece by Macedon was overrun, 
And swarms of Goths and Vandals put out Rome's 
bright sun. 

LXII. 

To try a cause in his stern court required 

Firm nerve, much money, men, and vast supplies ; 

Now, Jeff had all the nerve the wives desired, 
But Abe the men and money, ships and lies. 

So, when before Jeff's fire he retired, 

Term after term, the cunning lawyer cries, 

" May't please the court, don't yet decide the case ; 

We have not finished yet: we've only 'changed our 
base.'" 

LXIII. 

Now, Lincoln promised that in sixty days 
He'd have a verdict in Judge Battles' court ; 

But there's no end to all the law's delays ; 
And though he tried to cut the matter short, 

And used all lawful and unlawful ways, 

In trial after trial Jeff turned him out of court 

Ere he could gain a point the judge to justify, 

Till months had grown to years, and years began to fly. 

LXIV. 

Meantime, like wards in chancery, the ten wives, 
Heroic though they were, were growing thin ; 
9 



98 THE LOVES OF 

Worked with their small white hands to keep their 
lives ; 

For Cuffie was no more what he had been: 
A burden now — a drone in all their hives. 

In homespun dresses fastened with one pin 
They took to market baskets full of money, 
And bought an egg, a sparrow, or the fore-leg of a cony. 

LXV. 

Their suit had been expensive, and, though enough 
Of paper money they could make at will, 

It now had come to be such worthless stuff 
A spool of cotton cost a five-dollar bill. 

The way before looked long and dark and rough ; 
And, though they marched with cheerful courage 
still, 

'Twas doubtful if their strength would yet hold out 

Through all the trials of another term in court. 

LXVI. 

Conspicuous among their friends was one, 

Mass' Bob, so called w T ith reverence and affection, 

Virginia's pride, her hero, and her son, 

Who daily risked his life for their protection, 

And many a battle with their foes had won : 
He saw with agony and deep dejection 

Their cheeks grow wan, their step grow slow with toil. 

Their beauty fading in the strife, their wealth the foe- 
man's foil. 

LXV1I. 

He knew that in Judge Battles' court their cause, 
However holy, must have stores of gold, — 

In all protracted suits, with guns or laws, 

The " heaviest artillery" is bought and sold, — 

That poverty may push without a pause, 
And win its verdict by some action bold, 

But by exhaustion dies in a long war, 

Or withers by exposure at its chancery bar. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 99 

LXVIII. 

He came reluctant to the sad conclusion 
That she for whom he'd gladly give his life 

Must rend at last the veil of hope's delusion, 
And face the certain issue of the strife ; 

Then in the midst of victory's confusion 

No mercy would be shown to maid or wife: 

At Appomattox, 'neath that famous tree, 

He called a parley, and himself withdrew her plea. 

LXIX. 

This put an end to strife ; and had his foe 
Been half as generous as Bob was brave, 

There would have been an end to all our woe, 
And he regained a wife, not a bound slave. 

Of course the plaintiff pays the cost, we know, 
In cases of this sort ; and the judge gave 

The usual decree. Why was it, then, 

The wife was made a slave and all her slaves free 
men ? 

LXX. 

Jeff knew his foe far better than brave Lee, 
And much surprised was he to hear the news 

Of Lee's surrender ; intent upon the fee, 
He only stopped for Cuff to black his shoes, 

And hurried off to court. Too late ! the plea 
Had been withdrawn, the court about to close ; 

In fact, the door was slammed in his pale face, 

On which he read " Reward" for the counsel in the 
case. 

LXXI. 

With rage he tore his wig and beat the door, 
Declared the trial should go on again ; 

That he would change the venue then he swore, 
And follow Battles o'er the Southern plain ; 

And off he rode. Then on his heels a score 

Of Lincoln's men pursued with might and main ; 



100 THE LOVES OF 

And ere he overtook the judge, we know, 
They caught the brave old man and caged him in 
Monroe. 

LXXII. 

Thus ended this great trial: and 'tis said 

From old Judge Battles' court there's no appeal ! 

So, at the feet of Jonathan, arrayed 
In black, ten noble forms must kneel, 

Proud, though resigned, bound, yet not afraid 
To bow their queenly heads e'en to the steel. 

But had they known the fate for them reserved, 

"Strike with the axe!" they'd cried, "though this 
we've not deserved." 

LXXITI. 

Now, my fair readers fond of old romance, 

And youths who like fierce fighting, don't abuse 

Because I've sung not of the sword and lance. 
Mine has no sympathy with Homer's muse : 

From horrid war she shies and looks askance, 
And fears to dip in blood fair Clio's shoes, 

Who, when she writes, will show with skill and force 

What mighty misery comes from suing for divorce. 



BOOK VI. 

RECONCILIATION OR RECONSTRUCTION. 



'Tis said by some the Old Dominion's dead; 

And hard indeed to kill her some have tried ; 
'Tis true the color from her cheek has fled, 

And she is not so gay as when a bride : 
Tears over tombs of heroes she has shed, 

And many a gallant son for her has died ; 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 101 

With her own cities' ashes on her head, 
And flowers in her hand, she mourns the Confederate 
dead. 

ii. 

Her form is not so full and tall as when 

She stood upon her own Ohio River 
And gave away whole States to Western men, 

Who now conspire to rob the noble giver. 
Her round white arm, which, raised to heaven then, 

A blessing seemed to ask on all forever, 
Is severed by the sword : the wound to hide, 
The sleeve of her black dress hangs empty by her side. 

in. 

She is not dressed in elegant attire, 

The hospitable queen she was of old ; 
Her farm, neglected, lies in bush and brier, 

Her battered cabin scarce keeps out the cold ; 
Her sons, unused to labor, build her fire, 

And some their ragged clothes for bread have sold ; 
And oft she is so wretched, though so brave, • 
She wishes all her sons were in the hero's grave. 

i* 

Death, desolation, disappointment in the past, 
Overwhelming debts and empty corn-cribs now, 

And darker clouds yet o'er the future cast, 
How can Virginia wear a smiling brow ? 

But he who says she's dead speaks quite too fast ; 
She's very quiet, spite of the great row 

That's going on around her, and most sad ; 

But this, with Yankees, as death's almost as bad. 

v. 

Not long the good, the gifted, and the brave 
Can be depressed on Fortune's fickle wheel ; 

The pious mother, rising from the grave, 

Where angels hover while the mourners kneel, 
9* 



102 THE LOVES OF 

Of sorrow sees the dark refluent wave 

Already o'er the troubled waters steal, 
Till the clear mirror of the soul, now calm, 
Gives back to nature all its grace and charm. 

VI. 

And there's a quiet energy of soul 

That only genius great and guileless knows, 

That silent sits with Cato's self-control 
Amidst the wrecks of liberty, yet glows 

With that celestial fire Prometheus stole, 

And works like nature till its spring-time shows, 

Like leafless oak in living leaves renewed, 

The temple raised again in glory where it stood. 

VII. 

Six years ago Virginia was led 

By a blackguard from old Judge Battles' court, 
To which in vain for justice she had fled ; 

But not to jail, nor even to a fort, 
But to her home was safely thus conveyed, 

And treated with such tenderness, — in short, 
She never thought her utter ruin plotted, 
Till in her room she found* a she-baboon had squatted. 

VIII. 

" Missus !" said the creature, coming to the door, 
4< Dis house is mine, — Mas' Jonuy gim me dis ; 

I knows, indeed, it war your house before, 
An' I don't want to put you out ; but jis' 

You wait, my honey ! though I knows you's poor, 
I'll give you up one room." And, saying this, 

She showed her in the attic a small, dusty room, 

And, saying, " You kin sweep it," gave her an old 
broom. 

IX. 

Off to the provost went the startled wife, 
To ask the meaning of this rude reception ; 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 103 

The provost then had power over life, 

And apes soon found that theirs was no exception ; 
And so to end at once the threatened strife 

And strike away at once their fond deception, 
He sent for the baboon, and drew his sword, 
And struck the poor thing's head off, without a word. 

x. 

A thrill of horror ran through Afric's ranks, 
Which then stood thick and black in Richmond City : 

That sword's keen flash showed them the grateful 
thanks 
Mas' Jonny owed them for their loyal duty ; 

Yet still they thronged upon the surly Yanks, 

Who seemed like gods to them, — oh, what a pity ! 

Till Cuff was comforted at length — the fool ! — 

By the promise of forty acres and a mule. 

XI. 

Shocked by the cruel deed, Virginia, sad, 
Returned to take possession of her home, 

While thoughts thronged on her that near made her 
mad ; 
She felt, indeed, a power now had come 

Betweeu her and her people, and she had 

No means to grapple with it ; and, save some 

Small faint hope that the victor would be fair, 

And restore her to her rights, her prospect was despair. 

XII. 

'Tis evening, and the melancholy shades 
Of twilight creep upon the ruined city ; 

In better times, as busy daylight fades, 

The streets are gay with laugh and jesting witty ; 

But gloomy silence now the whole pervades : 
No news-boy, even, sings his evening ditty ; 

None save the watchman on the street is seen, 

Or some half-crazy merchant gazing at his ruin. 



104 THE LOVES OF 



XIII. 

Virginia sits in listless mood alone : 

Thinks of the dead, and the more helpless living; 
She wonders where her faithful Lee has gone : 

No longer now for Jackson is she grieving ; 
Would like to clasp the hand of gallant Johnston: 

Stuart and Ashby safe in heaven believing ; 
And then she counts upon her fingers wan 
The names of all her martyrs who from earth have 
gone. 

XIV. 

But hark ! there is a noise at the door ; 

Coarse laughter grates upon her wounded ear ; 
That nasal voice she has heard before : 

"I guess we'll find our Old Virginia here." 
And in they stalk, — King Jonathan and corps. 

A lean and hungry set they did appear; 
So thin and wan were some they scarce could stand, 
Or hold the empty carpet-bags they had in hand. 

XV. 

But Jonathan was fat, and Lindsey greasy, 
For the black Cuff was with the scallawags ; 

They fattened on the war, and took it easy : 
Not so the wretched crew with carpet-bags, 

The vile freedom-shriekers, whom to please he, 
Jonathan, had brought along with him in rags ; 

For he had promised them their share of booty, 

And to feed these dogs was now Virginia's duty. 

XVI. 

" Come, madam !" now says Jonathan the king, — 
Already on his head he had the crown, — 

" These men are hungry ; let your lackeys bring 
A plentiful repast. Gentlemen, sit down ; 

Come, make yourselves at home ; here everything 
Is mine, and my Virginia is well known 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 105 

For hospitality the most unbounded ; 
"We'll celebrate the Union new: let the old one be con- 
founded." 

XVII. 

" My lord," with scornful smile the dame replied, 
" That Union once before you have confounded : 

Remember Hartford : but lay this aside ; 
I do confess myself somewhat astounded 

To see King Jonathan, in all his pride 

Of victory and power, approach his wounded 

Partner with such a pack of hungry hounds. 

Am I to feed these dogs ? this passes patience' bounds. 

XVIII. 

" Indeed, my lord, my larder's empty quite." 
" Send for," says Jonathan, "your commissary 

Or quartermaster, who shall bring to light 
What they have stolen ; for 'tis necessary 

My men should eat. We'll have a jolly night !" 
"My lord," replied Virginia, " I'm not contrary; 

I'd send to sup with Pluto all your Yanks, 

Had I but Jackson and his commissary Banks." 

XIX. 

" Madam," says Jonathan, "you have not lost 
Your spirit yet, I see ; but, if you please, 

Just take your place at table : play the host ; 
Give Hunnicutt and Lindsey there your keys. 

They know the house, and we will make the most 
Of what they bring ; meantime, we'll take our ease ; 

And while, my friends, we sup in this our inn, 

We'll teach Virginia the consequence of sin." 

xx. 

Loth to obey, yet to resist too weak, 

Too proud to murmur, and too mad to weep, 

She raised her lovely eyes to heaven, to seek 
God's aid that yet her senses she might keep. 



106 THE LOVES OF 

But, while she prayed, she saw a figure sneak 
Into the room that made her flesh all creep: 
'Twas Thad, the captain of the Black Dragoons, 
And at his back a guard of horrid black baboons. 

xx r. 

Old, ugly, gray, with a ferocious scowl, 
His black eye blazing with fanatic zeal, 

Stood in the night that ominous old owl 
Before the helpless bird he'd come to steal. 

Virginia trembled in his presence foul ; 

Her hand, that could the sword no longer wield, 

Let fall the keys, which Lindsey catching up, 

Soon had the table ready for the scallawags to sup. 

XXII. 

The wife sank into her accustomed place, 
The table's head, presiding there per force, 

And Lindsey took the foot : thus face to face 
Sat slave and mistress, and, to make it worse, 

Thad at his back, the champion of his race; 
The scallawags filled up the sides, of course, 

And Jonathan, too proud to eat with Cuffie, 

Reclined at royal ease on a soft-cushioned sofa. 

XXIII. 

Virginia now, with trembling hand, poured out 

A cup of coffee ; with averted face 
She held it forth ; she felt great doubt 

Whom first to help in such a crowd : this grace 
Was due to Cuff, perhaps ; but Hunnicutt put out 

His bony hand, and swore that in his place 
No man would fail to seek his own salvation, 
And then he would politely wait on the new nation. 

XXIV. 

''I think," quoth Lindsey, " dat I once hab heard, 
At Fedricksburg, Mas' Hungrygut did say 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 107 

Of de black niggers he war much afeard ; 

'Twas 'fore de war. He would not let 'em pray 
Or preach, save by de white man oberseered." 

"A lie !" quoth Honey. " I but said the day 
Had not then come for the nigs to rise." 
"Silence!" Thad thundered, "and cease vour jarring 
lies." 

XXV. 

" 'Tis time, my lord," (to Jonathan he turned,) 
" To introduce to madam here our friends ; 

And when their names and qualities she's learned, 
And by politeness made them some amends, 

We'll satisfy her that she well has earned 

Their services; she'll thank the God who sends 

Such storks, instead of her old lazy logs, 

Into her stagnant pond to eat her croaking frogs." 

XXVI. 

" Madam," said the king, "the man sits at your right 
Whom we intend your governor to be. 

His name is Wells ; and, though he is a fright, 
We recommend him for humanity. 

He is ivell named, for he keeps out of sight 
The truth that's in him deep as the deep sea, 

And the best-natured man you ever saw ; 

He'll pardon almost any crime against the law." 

XXVII. 

"Haw! haw!" laughed Lindsey; "dat is what I like. 

De gubenor, dey say, must execute de law ; 
An' I say hang de law; and me it strike, 

De fust time Massa Wells I eber saw, 
He'd neber execute wid sword or pike, 

Or by de neck a nigger up'ards draw. 
Dat word execute is ugly — berry ! 
Pardon is de word for me, or send to Peutentiary." 



108 THE LOVES OF 

XXVIII. 
The king went on: " Next sits my friend Cahoon; 

Of Richmond City he shall be the mayor. 
Though lean to-night, he'll fatten very soon ; 

Like Berkshires, he must have the richest fare; 
And you must feed him with a silver spoon. 

The rascals, rogues, and rowdies he'll not spare, 
And he'll soon find 'em. Cahoon's your man ; 
For ' set a rogue to catch a rogue' is the best plan. 

XXIX. 

" Next see your judge, sagacious Underwood ; 

Old-fogy judges would not answer now : 
The old, well- settled law they understood, 

Too pure and feeble for a modern row : 
In lawless times we push aside the good. 

My will's the law ; to that your judge must bow ; 
And here's the man, I know, best understands 
To deal out rapid justice as the king commands. 

XXX. 

" Next, at the foot, see Lindsey the baboon : 
We place him there, for he's our other host; 

Now, as the Constitution to be written soon 
Is for his benefit, nis proper post 

Is that of legislator : the black loon 
In legislative halls will feel quite lost, 

But your smart men shall educate and teach him 

To make such laws that they can't overreach him." 

XXXI. 

"Dat's it!" said Lindsey. " Go in for edication : 
Edicated nigger smarter dan de white ; 

Sambo's master gin him edication, 

So like his massa teach him how to write, 

He practice on his name de whole vacation; 
Den for one hundred dollars did indite 

A little note, and sign his master's name ; 

De bank de money paid to Sambo, all de same. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 109 

XXXII. 
" Now, next to Lindsey, on your left, you see," 

The king went on, " sits Hunnicutt, your printer, — 
He always gets as near to Cuff as can be, 

Whether it be in summer or in winter, — 
Of the New Nation claims paternity ; 

And, as of Lindsey's laws he'll be the printer, 
I think we've chosen well ; in all your land 
He'll be the only man those laws will understand. 

xxxni. 
" See next the man in zebra-striped suit : 

Shrink not — no convict — though like one he dresses ; 
His name his occupation well will suit: 

Wardwell enchains his prisoners with caresses. 
He'll want no guns his prisoners to shoot : 

He uses ' moral suasion' and addresses ; 
But sometimes o'er his sermons falls asleep : 
Then o'er the prison-walls the cunning convicts creep," 

XXXIV. 

"Ah ha!" quoth Lindsey, "but dat's de best : 
De colored man will have a chance at last; 

Now he will go to prison wid de rest : 

Dem days of hanging and of whipping's past : 

Cuff's used to laving 'wake while oders rest : 
While Massa Wardwell sleepin' berry fast, 

'Bout ' moral suasion' Cuff forgit it all, 

And wid his own suspenders hist him o'er de wall." 

XXXV. 

" Last," quoth the king*, " you see on your left hand 
The gentleman I've brought to buy your farm, 

That seedy-\ook\ng man, — my friend Lackland ; 
Though without cash, you need feel no alarm ; 

He'll buy the whole, and pay with notes of hand. 
You see, the thing will work just like a charm : 

He'll cut you up in millions of town lots, 

And make them all in time as rich as garden-spots. 

10 



HO THE LOVES OF 

XXXVI. 

" 'Tis true, he'll pay you little for your land ; 

For without nigs you cannot cultivate it; 
And you must pay your debts, you understand. 

His notes will help you : though I know you hate it, 
There's no one else to buy but friend Lackland : 

Now, though your farm is good, you must not over- 
rate it. 
Your State will thus fill up with thrifty Yanks, 
And your smart husband then receive your grateful 
thanks. 

XXXVII. 

" 'Tis true, as thus the Yanks come trooping down 
To fill and to manure your barren State, 

Friend Lindsey will be squeezed quite out of town ; 
Southward he'll slide ; for such his certain fate. 

With Caroline perhaps he'll make his bed of down, 
In fields secession has left desolate, 

Where, all the voters being black as he, 

They'll send him to the Senate to a certainty. 

XXXVIII. 

" Look not upon me with so blank a face : 

'Tis true you're ruined, but I'm still your friend : 

Slavery alone withheld from your embrace 
A loving spouse ; but that is at an end. 

Live in the present, and the future face, 
With all your native courage, and attend 

Obedient to my commands: who knows 

How soon the new Virginia will blossom like the rose?" 

XXXIX. 

" God knows I" quoth she ; " but I shall be no more 
When Heaven looks down upon that future scene ; 

The same external form Virginia wore, — 
But not the same Virginia I have been; 

The pure streams, that through my veins now pour, 
That nourish health and purify from sin, 



JON AT H AX AND VIRGINIA. \\\ 

In their high springs defiled, mere flesh may feed, 
And turn your water-wheels to satisfy your greed. 

XL. 

" Frightened by the din of smoking furnaces, 
Or drowned in pools and vats and water-tanks, 

The Nymphs, the Naiads, the Cupids, and the Graces, 
No more shall haunt their desecrated banks ; 

No flowers shall bloom along the slow mill-races, 
Whose muddy waters, lined with toiling Yanks, 

Reflect no more the bright blue eye of heaven : 

Love, poetry, and God from earth trade will have 
driven. 

XLT. 

" But tell me, Jonathan, — thou who, like Fate, 
Sweeps off the master from his native land 

To make room for the slave, and dost not wait 
One moon's revolve ere with prophetic wand 

The slave thou wavest to a more Southern State, 
For room for thee and thine, — didst understand 

Jeff and his generals would disagree 

When from Manassas thou and thy whipped host did 
flee? 

XLII. 

" For, but for that small circumstance, my heel 
Upon thy neck had been, — not thine on mine. 

Yain prophet! thou maystturn blind Fortune's wheel : 
To give the blanks and prizes is not thine. 

To arms in vain I've made a fair appeal, 
To regain rights I never can resign ; 

Thou art the victor now, — thy power mayst use, 

But canst not make Virginia whatever thou mayst 
choose." 

XLIII. 

" Your Majesty," said Thad, " must now perceive 
This haughty dame defies the conquering nation ; 

The worst of all the rebels, I believe 
She never will ' accept the situation ' 



112 THE LOVES OF 

So loDg as she has hope of a reprieve ; 

My plan you must adopt, — entire subjugation. 
She hopes that when the Federal troops are gone 
She'll manage things at home as she has always done. 

XLIV. 

" To keep an army here were too expensive ; 

To leave her to herself would undo all ; 
You cannot oversee a Union so extensive : 

Back into slavery would the negro fall. 
My plan is simple, sure, and comprehensive : 

Amend the Constitution, disfranchise all 
Who have rebelled, and make Virginia swear 
Equal rights to give to all, whether black or fair. 



XLV. 

" Thus from her you will take that latent hope 
She places in her men ; without a vote, 

Not even with the negro can they cope. 
Thus, with the aid of men of little note 

Sent down by you, we'll bind with a strong rope 
This Amazon, who may her strength devote 

To teaching Cuffie's children ABC; 

For nothing else she'll have to do, that I can see. 

XLVI. 

"Meantime, with negro votes and scallawags, 
And base deserters from their mistress' cause, 

And eager men to fill their carpet-bags, 
Your party may remodel all the laws, 

And, being free from those old Southern drags, 

State's rights, construction strict, and other straws, 

May wield the Federal power at will with ease, 

Or make of you an emperor if they please." 

XLVII. 

" She who by force is made an oath to take, 
By force alone is made to keep it whole ; 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 113 

And if, perchance, by force her oath she break, 
She is not forced by God to lose her soul. 

But if I swear," the queen went on, " to make 
The black and white man equal in the poll, 

Must I not make them equal in the hall, 

The inn, the court, the church, the boudoir, and the ball ?" 

XLVIII. 

"Exactly so," quoth Thacl, "quite logically : 

Social equality's the logic of the war ; 
He who is my equal politically 

In all things else will soon be on a par. 
If proudly you exclude him socially, 

He'll rearrange your laws ; though black as tar, 
Before black judge and jury he will sue, 
And damages he'll have if you tread on his toe. 

XLIX. 

" The march of freedom through this land of ours 
Shall sweep away these cobwebs from your halls, 

Wherein wrapped up the spider fat devours 
Each helpless fly that in her wide net falls. 

Away such filth our revolution scours, 

Though tender skins its fire sometimes scalds. 

But, madam, something you have said of force : 

If you will take the oath, you take it free, of course." 

L. 

"What means," said she, "those men with muskets 
there f" 
And pointed to the blacks who lined the door. 
"What means the future you have pictured here 
At my own board ? — its mistress now no more. 
What means the union of that piebald pair, 

The slave and scallawag ? Why on my floor, 
With folded arms, stands at the negro's back 
Of all my foes the worst, with threats worse than the 
rack ? 

10* 



114 THE LOVES OF 

LI. 

" Thou hound ! that follows on the bloody heels 
Of war, and, coupled with a slave, hunts down 

The wounded master from those battle-fields 
Where, if not victor}^ he has won renown, 

Know that his helpless mother only yields 
A forced obedience ; nay, do not frown ; 

'Tis a dilemma of thine own foul making; 

Thou 'dst make me take an oath, — 'tis not of mine 



own taking. 



LTI. 



" Then take it not," quoth he ; " but know the fate 

Awaits thee : driven from the nation, 
A conquered province we will rule thy State ; 

Thy sons, proscribed, shall hold no civil station ; 
Thy farm sold out, thy house left desolate, 

Till time shall fill them with a population 
That knows thee not, we'll leave to thee the glories 
Of '98, their old dry bones, and sweet secession's memo- 
ries." 

MIL 

Virginia bowed her head and leaned her brow 
On her fair hand, quite lost in painful thought. 

The scallawags ate on — while Lindsey made a row 
'Midst plates and dishes for a spoon he sought. 

"Why, missus ! whar's your spoons ? I vow 
A plenty on 'em once I know you bought." 

"Yes, Cuff," with gentle smile the dame replied; 

" The Butler stole them all when you ran off to hide." 

LIV. 

Then, turning to the king, she gravely said, 
"I never loved thee, Jonathan, — now I hate. 

I married thee to please the honored dead, 
And 'gainst a foreign foe to guard my State : 

By a specific contract we were wed, 

Which thou hast been the first to violate ; 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 115 

Yet to that Union I did truly stand 

Until your lawless army invaded my own land. 

LV. 

" The time for argument is passed, I know: 

Recrimination now will do no good ; 
Your court decides together we must go, 

And with the Constitution as it stood. 

I bow to this decision: what else you do 
You do at your own risk ; this filthy brood 

You've brought to eat me out of house and home, 
Lindsey himself will help to send — where they came 
from. 

LVI. 

" You wish to change our contract ; I consent. 

Be not surprised: I know what I am doing. 
On negro suffrage you are strangely bent ; 

You'll find, too late, 'twill be to your undoing. 
These carpet-baggers, now, that you have sent, 

Will not succeed in their unnatural wooing ; 
Cuff likes the gentleman who has the cash, 
But, oh ! how he does hate the poor white Yankee 
trash ! 

LVII. 

II You hope that he will vote with your own party : 

And so he will, as long as you will feed him ; 
But to keep so many voters fat and hearty, 

And ready for the polls whene'er you need him, 
And to instruct him how to play the part he 

Never played before, and to the polls to speed him, 
Will take as many men as Lee has killed, 
And all the cheese and fish with which New England's 
filled. 

LVIII. 

11 By the elections you'll be ruined wholly, 

As every man who bribes his voters should be ; 

But if you leave alone this voter woolly, 
If Cuffie e'er a politician could be, 



116 THE LOVES OF 

His instincts all are democratic fully ; 

And taught by Democrats at home he would be 
Six years you'll have to do all you can do : 
Cuff votes the Democratic ticket in 1872. 

LIX. 

"Another great mistake, besides, you've made : 
I do not grudge his freedom to poor Cuff: 

I'm not responsible for the slave-trade, 

But made a Christian servant of a savage rough. 

Nor can this servant e'er be long arrayed 
Against a mistress he loved well enough 

Ere by your lies deceived : his hire he'll have, 

And he will cost me less than when a slave. 

LX. 

"His poor, — and nearly all are very poor, — 
His sick, his blind, his helpless, and his lame, 

Will come to Miss Virginia's open door, 
Just as in the olden time they came, 

Sure of kind aid. Will scallawags do more 
Than his old mistress for him ? I blame 

Not Cuff for listening to your siren song : 

But he'll find out who are his friends ere long. 

LXI. 

" Some animals, we know, don't reason much, 

But have an instinct wonderfully fine, 
Like dogs and elephants, honey-bees and such ; 

And I have read of wonders in that line ! 
They know a friend by sight, by smell, or touch, 

And better than wise men know where to dine : 
Smarter than dogs, unerring as the bees, 
Cuff knows the difference 'tween gentlemen and 
Yankees. 

LXII. 

" Your ally will desert you in the time of need : 
Your Free-soil party has played out its part ; 

One term you'll have to satisfy its greed : 
'Tis ripe, 'twill rotten then and fall apart. 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 11 f 

Then you will answer for the blood you've shed : 

Ten thousand ghosts up in your path will start ; 
The cost of causeless war, the ruin of a nation, 
Will fall upon your head with terrible damnation. 

LXIII. 

"But fear not, now, that I will break my oath : 
'Tis true, save honor, Virginia has lost all ; 

But, helpless as I seem, I tell you both 

That, bind me as you will, I'll see your fall. 

By party you have gained your present growth ; 
Some other party will grow quite as tall : 

I mean to fight no more with sword and lance, 

But with my lawful broomstick mean to make you 
dance. 

LXIY. 

You think poor silly Sambo will slide South ! 

You do not understand the 'truly toil ;' 
He'll spend his old age where he spent his youth : 

No tree sticks faster to its native soil. 
And though he'll have to live from hand to mouth, 

He'll stay until he ' shuffles off this mortal coil ;' 
E'en though betook a fancy to a warmer State, 
He'll always be too poor to emigrate. 



LXV. 

" For what, alas ! will the poor freedman do ? 

Scorned by the victor who has set him free, 
Who makes him poor by his competition too, 

His only white friend, now as poor as he, 
Whose hands the rough plow-handle never knew, 

Makes only bread and meat, but no money, 
Cuff's only chance is a small share of crops ; 
Then his master gets the fodder, and Cuffie gets the 
tops. 

LXVI. 

11 So long as there are squirrels in the woods, 
Or hogs to steal, or chicken-roosts to rob, 



118 THE LOVES OF 

I'll have to feed him from my worldly goods ; 

And, as you've left us, 'tis no easy job: 
But I've an offer for your generous moods, 

If any such you have." And from her fob 
She drew, along with sundry cuffs and collars, 
A little bill made off for three thousand million dollars. 

LXVII. 

11 Dear Jonathan," she said, " I ask not for a bonnet, 
Though mine is somewhat now the worse for wear ; 

Take this small bill, and, as you look upon it, 
Remember 'tis the wife you once called dear, 

And wooed and praised in many a tender sonnet, 
With whom your worldly goods you vowed to share, 

Who takes for granted now you mean to pay 

The value of her many slaves that you have taken away. 

lxviii. 
" One-half I'll take to make myself as gay 

As the fair queen should be who weds a king ; 
The other half to Sambo you may pay, 

To mend his rags and enable him to bring 
His children up to virtue ; then the day 

Will not be far when slavery's venomed sting 
Shall be withdrawn from both the slave and master, 
And we'll forget and we'll forgive this cruel war's 
disaster." 

LXIX. 

The frowning king received the little paper, 
But not a word to her appeal returned ; 

Then, coolly rolling it into a taper, 
He handed it to Lindsey to be burned. 

This Lindsey did, and then he cut a caper, 
And swore that he his liberty had earned : 

" De colored troops fought nobly in de war; 

At least so I hab heard, for dis chile was not dar." 

LXX. 

Yirginia watched the sparks till all had fled, 
And then as to herself she seemed to speak : 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 119 

" Thus, one by one, went out my shining dead 
And left their mother penniless and weak." 

Then, looking at the king, aloud she said, 

11 Burns there no blush upon thy brazen cheek ? 

Thus thou wouldst burn the sacred Constitution! 

But there will come for thee a day of retribution. 

LXXI. 

" You've ruined me, you think ; but, oh, my lord ! 

Poor Nineveh your God has not destroyed ; 
And you shall sit beneath your withered gourd, 

Like Jonah, by the wind and sun annoyed, 
To watch in vain fulfillment of your word. 

Your gourd is withered : I am overjoyed ; 
West winds shall rise, south suns shall scorch your 

head, 
Till fainting Jonathan shall wish that he were dead." 

LXXII. 

She ceased, and, queen-like, waved her lily hand 
Towards the door ; and Jonathan arose, 

Obeyed the look, the unexpressed command; 

And, moving slowly out, spoke through his nose : 

" Come, Thaddeus, I guess she'll understand, 
Ere one sun more below the horizon goes, 

That she's the captive of our bow and spear : 

Vse victis is our motto. Good-night, Virginia dear." 

Lxxni. 
They went, with mocking word and devilish face, 
And left the sense of sulphur and of thunder ; 
• The scallawags retired with reluctant pace, 

Stomachs and carpet-bags well filled with plunder. 
But Lindsey lay in all his native grace, 

Quite fast asleep, the empty table under ; 
Then, rising on his legs, he seized the fine occasion 
To close the solemn scene with Afric's best oration : 

LXXIV. 

11 Dis night, old missus, de glorious rebolution, 
De war wind up, — de great pacificator ; 



120 THE LOVES OF JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA. 

To-morrow I gwine make for you de Constitution ; 

. De king hab made me de chief legislator. 
To show my trust in you, it is my resolution 

To gib you de high post of nigger-edueator. 
Seek early, den, de empty 'bacco-barn, 
And, while I'm in de Capitol, you make de chilluns 
larn." 

LXXV. 

He paused ; 'twas now the witching hour of night ; 

The devils, who had ruled that awful day, 
From earth's burnt bloody face had taken flight; 

In quiet graves our heroes sleeping lay, 
Watched over by the stars with sleepless light ; 

But there were angels, like the milky-way, 
That hovered o'er Virginia, — a starry host, — 
Whence glided down to help her one — in form a ghost. 

LXXVI. 

Cuff paused, and larger grew his eye's big white : 
A ghost rose up behind Virginia's chair ; 

So tall it grew, it was a fearful sight. 

Untwisted every curl of Cuff's black hair, 

As on him gazed down from its awful height 
The face of Washington, with eyes that glare. 

" Good Lord," he cried, "Ku-klux !" and, in sore fright, 

Plunged headlong at the door and vanished in the night. 

LXXYII. 

And so, good-night to all ; here ends my story ; 

And I am sorry 'tis so sad a one. 
With .brave Sir Walter we began in glory, 

With pride we culminate in Washington ; 
Hence toppling from the temple's highest story, 

In shame and sorrow end with — the baboon. 
"We," republics, "in our youth begin in gladness, 
But thereof cometh in the end melancholy and mad- 
ness." 



THE LOVES 



OF 



JONATHAN AND VIRGINIA 



BY 

BOS WELL. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

1873. 






rts^'s^ AAA* ' - • 9? »,«vv°~ *«?vtts 



m^m 






M&Mfi 






€wm*&^Mi^. m^ 



fofi\ 









Wfe 



Sil^^iMSl 






-■ s ' A. , ■& h-;a*a *a* a \a ■ a a \* j a ^ . ., a AA . 



KS9& 






wsssm 



mftHX 



Ml 









'WA* 






^^n:^' 



WKss 



$ ?$5fiAX 



* ' ^M*-aOa ^ -.*„'**■■'>*"% ■ 






Pl»: ****, 



1 M. 



- 



mmrM 






^W2« 






